Street War
by ElmoNegativeL
Summary: (An AU setting). Tokyo's largest street gangs, the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi, were at constant odds. There wasn't a soul in Tokyo who didn't know that. The same was meant to be true for their youngest members – Sakata Kagura and Okita Sougo. However, the definition of 'hate' was not all that it seemed.
1. Prologue

**Street War - Prologue**

 _(An AU setting). Tokyo's largest street gangs, the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi, were at constant odds. There wasn't a soul in Tokyo who didn't know that. The same was meant to be true for their youngest members – Sakata Kagura and Okita Sougo. However, the definition of 'hate' was not all that it seemed._

It was a rainy day when the Yato siblings were picked up by Sakata Gintoki.

With his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his coat, a scarf wrapped securely around his neck and no particular destination in mind, Gintoki walked through the back alleys of Tokyo. His white hair was drenched by the pouring rain as the skies continued storming, as if to mock his lack of an umbrella. He sighed and continued his trek, his boots tracking mud along the wet pavement.

As he slinked about in the shadows, Gintoki's thoughts turned to the group of ruffians who were likely waiting for him to get back to their hideout. _The Yorozuya, huh?_ He allowed a bitter smile to cross his face. _Those idiots sure picked a lousy good-for-nothing to follow._ At the age of eighteen, Gintoki had chosen to drop out of high school rather than graduate and continue onto university. As such, finding a job was practically impossible for him as he had no qualifications or prior experience. Money was tight and Gintoki had stepped out from the Yorozuya hideout to collect his thoughts. That was when it had started to rain.

Rather than curse at the storm, Gintoki relished in the feeling of the cold, wet raindrops hitting his skin. It provided a momentary respite from his worries about the future. However, he knew that nothing lasted forever and the Sun would eventually return, bringing with it a reminder that a lowlife such as he was not fit to live in this world. He had nothing to live for – no life goal or special talent to service society. _Even those idiots in the Yorozuya have family to return to_. But Gintoki did not.

His thoughts steadily grew darker and darker, the grey monotone of his surroundings was expressive of his emotions. However, Gintoki's inner turmoil was interrupted when his eyes fell upon a red splatter on the ground. The colour was so vivid, Gintoki almost thought that it was a trick of the mind. _Is that blood?_ He slowly crept towards the red that had pooled on the pavement of the dirty alleyway and knelt down next to it. Upon closer inspection, he found that the red colour that he had thought was blood had actually been the hair of a shivering, young boy. His dark clothing had blended into the rest of the dark alleyway and his vermillion hair had been the only discernible feature about the boy.

Gintoki gently grabbed the boy's shoulder and shook him, hoping to encourage a reaction from him. In response, the boy gave a light groan and flicked one eye open. His face was scrunched in a painful manner and Gintoki couldn't tell if the wetness on his cheeks was sweat, tears or rain. Upon realising that Gintoki was looming above him, the young boy folded his body protectively and turned his head to glare at Gintoki. As he moved, Gintoki noticed a small bundle in the boy's hands. Peeking out from within the oversized coat that had been wrapped around the bundle were strands of hair which were similar in colour to the boy's. _Siblings,_ Gintoki noted. _Or maybe they could be cousins._ It was an unusual hair colour to have in Tokyo, though Gintoki's hair colour was arguably much more unusual.

"Listen up, old man," the boy growled. "You touch me one more time and I'll make sure you don't have any hands to touch anyone with again."  
Gintoki gave the boy a look of amusement and held his hands up in surrender. _If he was old enough, he'd make a great Yorozuya_.  
"Alright, kid," Gintoki responded, his voice low. "But you'd better get home. I'm sure mummy and daddy will have a warm meal waiting at home for some brats like you."  
"Don't got none."  
"Huh?" Gintoki made a surprised face while the boy gave him an indignant look.  
"Parents are dead, we ain't got no home."

The boy's words were so blunt and normative, as if he was telling a shop clerk what was on his grocery list. _So there are kids like this too, huh?_ Gintoki was silent for a while, before he stood up and began to slowly walk away. With his back turned towards the boy, he halted and spoke again.  
"You coming?" he asked.  
"Huh?" This time, it was the boy's turn to be surprised.  
"I don't have any food, but I've at least got some strawberry milk. That should do it for some little brats, right?"  
The boy scoffed. "My parents may be dead, but I know better than to follow strangers around."  
"Suit yourself," Gintoki shrugged. "But if you stay out here much longer you'll both die of hypothermia. Your choice."

Gintoki began walking again, his steps purposefully slow. He could hear rustling from behind him, as well as a couple of grunts and a quick 'sorry' followed by a weaker 'it's okay'. Having stopped completely, Gintoki turned his head around to find the boy struggling to balance a little girl on his back whilst covering her with a jacket that did not seem to belong to either of them. The task appeared a little difficult as the girl was about three-quarters of the size of the boy. He needed two hands to secure her to his back, but that left the jacket to slide onto the ground. Grumbling in frustration, the boy moved to try again when Gintoki stepped towards them and gently lifted the girl and the jacket into his arms, cradling her as he deftly wrapped his own scarf around the boy using his free hand. Before the boy could protest, Gintoki had turned and crouched down onto the ground, his back facing the boy once more.

"Get on," Gintoki stated, gesturing towards his back.  
With not much choice, the boy grasped onto Gintoki's collar and hoisted himself up. He quickly felt Gintoki's hand secure itself to his leg firmly, ensuring that he would not fall off. Even though Gintoki was thoroughly soaked by the rain, both children felt unbelievably warm as they huddled against him. It was not very long before the little girl in his arms fell asleep as Gintoki walked over to Snack Otose. A bar it might have been, but he knew for sure that the old lady that ran the place would help him out with the children.

"Are you gonna tell us your name, old guy?" the boy on his shoulders asked.  
Gintoki chuckled at his rudeness. "I'm barely an adult, let alone an old guy. But you brats can call me Gintoki."  
"That so? Well, I'm Kamui and my sister there is Kagura."  
Gintoki hummed as he continued walking. As he left the alleyways, he felt a bit more of a spring in his step despite being weighed down by two children and twice as much water weight than before. The warmth against his chest and back filled him with an energy that he did not know existed within him and, as the rain grew lighter and the clouds parted to reveal the setting Sun, a happy smile graced Gintoki's face. _I suppose I can hold onto this world for a little while longer._

That night, Gintoki went to bed in his small apartment with two children at his side. Both Kamui and Kagura had stolen the majority of his blanket and the cold, autumn night had him chilled to the bone. However, the expression on his face showed that he really did not mind. As he closed his eyes to join the two children in sleep, he felt Kagura's small, thin body latch onto his torso as she made herself comfortable.  
"Mami… Papi…" she had sighed, a mist of sleepiness enveloping her voice.  
Gintoki smiled, a tired look in his eyes, and hugged the two children closer.

He had only planned to take care of the children for a short while until they could find a better home to stay in. However, when a year had passed and Kagura and Kamui announced that they wanted to take the Sakata name, there was no denying the tears of happiness that fell from his eyes as he pulled them close once again.

 _Author's Note_

 _Hello! Thank you so much for taking the time to read all the way to the end of this prologue chapter. This isn't my first fanfiction, but it is my first OkiKagu and my first fanfiction in many, many years. I do have a friend who reads over it before I upload a chapter, but I know that no-one's perfect and there may still be some mistakes in my writing. Please go ahead and tell me if you find any mistakes, or if you think that there are any oddities in my writing. I'll do my best to try to fix it._

 _Oh, and one more thing! I'm also not a very good writer of, uh, romance. So - who knows who this story will go, ahah. Let's all hope for the best. I've planned everything out though, so maybe it'll be okay. That's all for now - see you when I next update (whenever that is)!_


	2. Chapter 1

**Street War - Chapter 1**

"Gin-chan, Gin-chan!" Kagura called, jumping onto Gintoki's bed. "It's time for the street fight! Hurry, hurry!"

Underneath Kagura was a very tired Gintoki, cocooned within his blankets and very much not up for any fighting. He groaned, shifting so that he could lie on his side. His movement threw Kagura off balance and she quickly jumped off his bed before any damage could be done, landing lightly onto the carpeted floor. Pouting, Kagura opted instead to nudge at the 'Gin-chan burrito' with her foot.  
"If you don't hurry, the Yorozuya and Shinsengumi will start fighting already and we'll miss everything!"

Managing to disentangle himself from his blanket, Gintoki gave his daughter a lazy glare and promptly laid his head back onto his pillow. He pulled the blanket up to cover his face.  
"Get your brother to go with you," he grumbled, his voice muffled by the blanket. "Gin-chan has some sleeping to do."  
"But it's only eleven!"  
"At night – most people are asleep already."  
"Yeah, but we aren't 'most people'!" Feeling a little annoyed at the lack of response from Gintoki, Kagura dragged the covers off his body and threw them into the corner of his room. "Now, hurry up!"

Finally relenting, Gintoki managed to peel his body off the mattress and walked over to Kagura. With both affection and irritation, Gintoki ruffled her hair and earned himself an indignant look. _Man, she was much cuter nine years ago when she wasn't acting like a bratty teenager._ Sighing, he walked over to his closet to find a shirt to throw over his bare chest. He decided that the residents of the night could deal with his slept-in, tracksuit pants.  
"Like I said, can't you just get Kamui to go with you?" Gintoki tried one more time. _Maybe I can go back to sleep…  
_ "No way!" was the response he received. "It's my very first gang fight and I want you to come with me!"

With that, Gintoki quickly slipped a grey shirt on and was pulled by Kagura out of the house. She had told him that he had taken too long to wake up and Kamui had ended up heading on over to the meeting place with Takasugi a little earlier. As they walked and Kagura chatted up enough conversation for the both of them, Gintoki absentmindedly let his mind drift to the upcoming gang fight. The Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi had these fights every so often. They weren't anything too serious – no death matches or the like. Just a bit of beating and bruising. He found out quite early into his parenting career that Kamui had a mean right hook, as well as a mean everything-else. His kicks could easily break bone, glass would shatter if he let his grip become too strong, and that was not even the half of it. Though he was initially against allowing Kamui to join the street fights, the younger boy's persistence eventually won out. Thus, at the age of ten, Kamui became the youngest member of the Yorozuya.

After her brother had joined, Kagura insisted that Gintoki let her in as well. He was not surprised to find out that she shared the same monstrous strength that her brother had. However, he was much more hesitant to let Kagura join in on the brawl. He was not sure if it was a paternal instinct for his daughter, but he knew he definitely did not want her to get hurt even if she was likely stronger than most of the men in the two gangs. Initially, he was able to put it off for two years – telling her she could join when she was ten years old just like her brother. Then, nine years passed where she seemingly forgot about her request to join. However, when Kagura turned sixteen, she began pestering Gintoki, once again, to join the Yorozuya. It seemed that she had spent those nine years training her fighting skills against her brother.  
"Now, there's absolutely no way you can say no to me joining!" he remembered her saying.

Begrudgingly, he had allowed her to join. This fight would be her first one and he supposed that he could work up the motivation to watch over her. He wasn't looking forward to seeing Hijikata, though. The guy had a really strong hatred for Gintoki and their fights together usually ended in more broken bones than bruises. _I guess I'll just deal with him when the time comes.  
_ "Ah, Gin-chan! Look, I can see the gangs already. Let's hurry, I think they've started!" Kagura quickly ran towards the crowd of people and, indeed, the two gangs had already started fighting. Gintoki could see the members of his Yorozuya squaring off against a couple of the members of Hijikata's Shinsengumi. Some members used improvised weapons whilst others fought with their bare hands. It was an unspoken rule that no-one was to use lethal weapons and, for the years that the two gangs have been fighting, everyone had respected that rule.

As Gintoki rushed to catch up to Kagura – who was racing through the violence with a spring in her step – he wearily noted that the only person stupid enough to fight on their own would be his own kid. Kamui fought like a beast and was easily tackling a battle against a group of Shinsengumi without any backup. _He's gonna get himself killed, one day._ Gintoki shook his head. The other, smarter members of the gangs would usually fight in a group in order to help one another out. At the very least, the members would fight in pairs. Only the leaders of the gangs would fight individually as their fights usually ended up being one-on-one fights. Noticing his stare, Kamui turned from his adversaries and gave a cheery wave.  
"Hey, Gintoki! Oh, and I see you've brought my little sister today, hm?"  
"More like she brought me…"  
"Ah, I suppose that would be right," Kamui thought aloud, nonchalantly dodging a kick that was aimed at his head. "Take care of her for me, would ya?"  
"Will do."

With that, the cheery grin on Kamui's face morphed into a sadistic one as he turned his attention back to the Shinsengumi members at his neck. Giving him one final look, Gintoki ran off once more only to find Kagura locked in a heated battle with a boy he did not recognise. _Hm? Did the Shinsengumi bring in a new member, too?_ Edging closer, Gintoki was about to lend a hand in Kagura's fight when he saw a rock being thrown his way. Quickly, he pulled out the iron pipe that was strapped to his pant leg and swung at the rock, blasting it to pieces.  
"Keep out of this one, Sakata." Gintoki turned his head to find a lethargic Hijikata slowly make his way over to where Gintoki was standing. "If you want someone to play with, I'll play with you."  
"Hmph, it doesn't look like you're too into it today, either," Gintoki remarked.  
"Yeah, well, Sougo's been coming at me all day, saying that he's 'bored' and 'has nothing to do'." He let out a long, defeated sigh. "Eventually, I let him come to this street fight. Don't interfere, though – he hates it when people get in his way."  
"You have my condolences."  
"Shut up, I don't need any of your condolences."

Gintoki looked away from his so-called 'rival' and glanced at the boy who was brawling with Kagura. Surprisingly, he appeared to be keeping up rather well. Kagura's fighting abilities were nothing to scoff at and even her brother needed to put in a bit of effort when training her. The two appeared to be exchanging some form of conversation, though Gintoki was sure that the contents of said conversation were absolutely not kid friendly. _Where on Earth did she get that foul mouth of hers from?_ A few moments of solemn thought later, Gintoki answered his own question. _Ah. That'd be me._

Directing his attention back to the brunet, Gintoki took a good look at the boy's face. He judged him to be only a little older than Kagura – quite likely around the same age as Kamui. Then, it clicked.  
"So this is the Okita Sougo kid that you picked up about a decade ago?"  
"You say it like I picked a dog off the streets," Hijikata grunted.  
"Ah, right. That'd be me, I did that."  
Hijikata turned to look at the duelling duo.  
"So, that there's your other kid? Sakata Kagura, huh?" His words gave Gintoki a moment of pride.  
"That's right," he stated jovially. "She's one hell of a fighter, ain't she?"  
"Yeah? Well I'm sure Sougo will teach her a thing or two."  
"What'd you say?!" The two pulled out their weapons and, with the grace of two lions, promptly attacked one another, leaving Sougo and Kagura unwatched.

Dodging an incoming kick from Sougo and crouching low to get a roundhouse kick on him, Kagura was starting to feel a bit miffed. It should not be taking her this long to knock out an opponent, especially someone who looked barely any older than her. She gritted her teeth and put every ounce of strength she had into blowing his shin to smithereens. Unfortunately, Sougo had also been aiming a kick her way and the two ended up smashing their shins together. Upon impact, a string of expletives rushed out of both Kagura and Sougo's mouths.

Glaring at one another, Kagura and Sougo both slowly stood up, each favouring their right leg.  
"You stupid idiot!" Kagura yelled. "You were meant to stand still and let me break your leg!"  
"Hah?" Sougo growled, slowly sliding his right leg back to enter a battle stance. "Just how stupid are you?"  
"Who're you calling stupid?! You idiot!"  
"Christ, for being the Yorozuya boss' daughter, you sure are dumb."  
At his last statement, Kagura growled before leaping back into action and socking him one in the jaw. A little surprised at the speed of her movement, considering her prior impact with his shin, Sougo was caught off guard. His lack of defence allowed Kagura an extra two hits before he managed to fling a rock that was lying on the ground into her eye. Their battering and bruising continued for a couple more minutes before a shout could be heard from the outskirts of the gang fight.

"Scram, guys! The coppers are coming!"  
No further instruction was needed from either gang. As quickly as the fighting had started, both gangs called a temporary truce as they fled the streets. Some hid in alleyways, others jumped on motorcycles and hightailed it out of the locale as quickly as possible. Kagura took one last look at Sougo before elbowing him in the side, following her brother home. Doubled over, Sougo cursed at Kagura before backing away alongside his fellow gang members.

When Kagura made it home with Gintoki and Kamui, she quickly raided the cupboards for a packet of sukonbu and jumped onto their couch.  
"Who the heck did that guy think he is?!" she shouted, tearing open the sukonbu packaging and popping a piece into her mouth. "Look at what he did to my beautiful face!"  
"Hm, he really got you, didn't he?" Kamui leaned over the back of the couch, looking over Kagura's arms and legs. "That shin of yours doesn't look too good."  
Kagura gave her brother a look before waving it off.  
"It'll heal with a quick nap, you should know that." Her eyes quickly grew angry again. "But that guy…! Who was he?! Next time I see him, I'll give him more than a bruised shin!"

Walking out of the kitchen and into their living room, Gintoki slowly sat down onto the armrest of their couch.  
"His name is Okita Sougo," he lazily explained. "Kind of funny, actually. He was taken in by the Shinsengumi's leader, that mayo-freak Hijikata, around the same time I got saddled with you two brats."  
"Aw, Gintoki," Kamui crooned. "You love us so much."  
"Sometimes I wish I didn't," Gintoki sighed, taking a swig from his bottle of strawberry milk. "Anyways, your backstories are pretty similar. One of those coincidental parallels, if you will. I would've thought you'd be friends, but I guess not"

Kagura jumped off the couch, having finished her sukonbu, and deftly threw her empty packet of sukonbu into the kitchen bin. _That stupid sadist. What a copycat._

Sougo, momentarily forgetting the heavy bruising covering his body, jumped straight into his bed the moment he got back to his shared apartment with Hijikata. His actions brought immediate regret. _Ugh, that stupid China girl. What are her fists made of? Rocks?_ He rubbed at his arms – hoping to massage away his pain but only managing to further his discomfort. _Probably. After all, her brain is definitely made of them._ He smirked at his own joke and decided he would need to remember it for the next time he met with her.

"Whoa, Sougo!" Hijikata, having needed to speak with a couple of Shinsengumi members, had only just arrived home. Leaning on Sougo's bedroom doorframe, he eyed Sougo's bruised face.  
"I knew you were getting beat but I didn't know you were getting _beat_." Sougo was arguably one of the best fighters within the Shinsengumi. He had been training from a young age against Hijikata and Kondo Isao, and his experience with fighting was as high as they come. As much as he hated to admit it, Hijikata knew that even he might not be able to tough it out against Sougo in an all-out battle. So, for Sougo to have been beaten so badly said a lot about his opponent.  
"I guess that kid of the stupid perm-head's is pretty good, huh?"

Sougo could only scoff as he sat up in bed and removed his shirt, revealing that the damage done to him as a result of his fight with Kagura was not limited to only the exposed areas of his body. He was sure that he could feel a bruised rib or two. _This shin is definitely gonna cause me some problems, too._ He groaned and fished out the first aid kit that lay underneath his bed, slowly applying a few compresses and creams to his wounds.  
"I don't think the Yorozuya boss has a daughter," Sougo drawled. "He has some kind of monster."  
"Yeah, yeah. Just make sure you're in better shape, soon. School's starting tomorrow, remember?"  
Sougo flinched and turned to his calendar. _Shit._

 _Authors Note_

 _Phew, so this one came pretty soon after the prologue, didn't it? I can assure you that new updates after this one won't be as fast. Oh, and before anyone gets the wrong idea – this isn't a 3Z-verse fanfiction. They are going to high school, but it isn't the 3Z class. Sorry if that was what you wanted (eheh). See you next time, then!_


	3. Chapter 2

**Street War – Chapter 2**

Kagura bounded along the sidewalk, her brother in tow. It was her first day of school at Gintama High and she would be joining the first-year classes. During both elementary and middle school, she had been too busy training with her brother to give much thought to making friends or anything of the sort. It was amazing how she had managed to scrape past all of her classes despite never actually spending a single second studying any of her class materials. However, now that she was in high school, she had decided to put in some effort to making a friend or two. _I know that Gin-chan is always worrying about me never going out with friends or anything. I'd better put him at ease before he goes bald._

As they neared the school, Kagura suddenly stopped her overly energetic hopping and paused to let her brother catch up to her.  
"You know, Kamui," she began. "I've never actually asked you why you don't go to school."  
Kamui's eyes looked up from his phone and gave his sister a sly grin.  
"School doesn't have much to offer me." Kagura tilted her head.  
"Is that why you have nothing in your brain, idiot big brother?"  
"I don't need very many brains to do heavy lifting," he replied, yawning. "And it isn't like I have nothing in my brain. I at least know my seven's times tables."  
"Oh, yeah?" Kagura stuck her nose up. "Well I know all the way up to my ten's times tables."

Kamui placed his phone in his pocket and amiably applauded her.  
"Well done, little sister!" he beamed. "But you'd better hurry up, now. Don't wanna be late on your first day, right?"  
After quickly patting Kagura on the back, Kamui jogged away from the school to join Takasugi on their next job together. Though Kamui enjoyed fighting on his own, he was much more open to company when it came to the odd jobs in Tokyo that the Yorozuya gang found themselves involved in. Takasugi, in particular, had become one of Kamui's favourite Yorozuya members to annoy. Kagura shook her head as her brother zig-zagged through the crowd of students entering the school gates. _I wonder how Takasugi manages to not kill him every day._

Turning from her older brother, Kagura pulled on the shoulder straps of her school bag and power walked her way to the school's notice board. After quickly locating her class number and location, Kagura made her way to the first-years' wing. Gintama High was relatively large for a public high school. It had three departments – one for each year level – with about four storeys for each building. Each building had its own student office and infirmary, as well as seven homeroom classes. Dotted between the three buildings were the music and art classrooms, as well as a number of other elective-type classrooms.

As she ran through to the first-years wing, Kagura passed by the third-years' building and noticed the school's cafeteria. _Hmph, of course the third-years get the closest access point to the food._ Grumbling under her breath, Kagura looked away and continued towards her classroom. Along the way, she was able to take a quick look at the school's gymnasium and swimming pool. Separate from the gymnasium was what appeared to be a training hall for martial arts. _I guess Gintama High must have a martial arts club or something similar._ Kagura momentarily entertained the thought of joining, before shaking her head. She had lost the opportunity to make any friends in elementary school and middle school because she had always been busy fighting her brother. She could not allow a repeat of that.

Finally, Kagura made it to the first-years' building. She quickly located her shoe locker and swapped out her outdoor shoes for the provided indoor shoes, all the while she had managed to strike up a conversation with a group of other girls. After learning that they would all be in the same class, they all began walking towards their classroom.  
"So, what's your name?" one of the girls had asked Kagura after they had all introduced themselves. She gave Kagura a pretty smile, her lips glossed with a light pink lip-gloss. Kagura absently wondered if the group of girls would teach her how to use make-up, too. _Gin-chan is so stupid about these kinds of things. He needs to get himself a wife.  
_ "Ah, my name is Sakata Kagura," Kagura beamed back. "Pleased to meet-!"

" _Sakata?!_ " a brunette at the back of the group repeated, incredulous. "Like, as in the Yorozuya's Sakata Gintoki?"  
Kagura gave the girl a strange look.  
"How do you guys know about Gin-chan?"  
" _Everyone_ who goes to Gintama High knows about the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi!" she replied. "The gangs originated from here, after all!"  
"That's right," agreed the girl who had asked for Kagura's name. She turned shakily towards Kagura. "So, that means you're a member of the Yorozuya…?"

Kagura's confused look disappeared, replaced with a proud grin.  
"Yeah! Gin-chan let me join just yesterday," she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. "I totally whooped Shinsengumi ass in my first street fight."  
At the thought of the Shinsengumi member from last night – Okita Sougo – Kagura's bright smile fell.  
"Well, I mean I _would've_ kicked their butts if it wasn't for the stupid sadist that got in my way…" she grumbled.  
However, when she received no reply from the other girls, Kagura turned around. When her eyes met with theirs, the girls gave Kagura a shaky smile.  
"Um – actually, Kagura-chan," the first girl began. "The four of us have something that we need to do quickly before we get to class. Why don't you go ahead and we'll meet you there when class starts?"  
Her suggestion was met by vigorous agreement from the rest of the girls.  
"Sure!" Kagura said. "I'll see you guys later, then."

* * *

However, Kagura never did see those girls again. Unbeknownst to her, they had all requested to be moved to another class in fear of the Sakata name. Though she was initially confused as to why she did not see her 'friends' during homeroom, there was no time for her to dwell on it.  
"Next!" called Kagura's homeroom teacher. The class had been doing self-introductions during homeroom and it was finally Kagura's turn. She stood up from her seat, pushing her chair out with a loud screech, and began her introduction. She did not get very far into it.

"Hello, my name is Sakata Kagura and I-!"  
" _Sakata?!_ "  
Kagura glared at the boy who had interrupted her and he did his best to slouch as far into his seat as possible.  
"Yes, that's right. I'm Sakata Gintoki's daughter and I'm a member of his Yorozuya. Is there a problem with that?" She directed her last sentence to the boy who had previously interrupted her, but the intimidating effect from her words held influence over the entire class. Everyone turned from her and did their best not to make any eye contact with her. Everyone – except for the girl who sat in front of Kagura, who turned in her seat with bright eyes and rosy cheeks.  
"Did you just say that you're a member of the Yorozuya?!" she asked, a poorly concealed squeal of delight in her voice.  
"Now, now," their homeroom teacher interrupted, prompting Kagura's classmate to turn back towards the front of the class. "We have time for chit-chat, later. If that is all, Sakata-san, then you may be seated."  
"Yes, sir."

Kagura slowly sat back down into her seat, oblivious to the scared faces of her classmates, and watched in anticipation as the girl in front of her stood up for her self-introduction.  
"Hello, my name is Tokugawa Soyo. I enjoy taking photos and shopping. Pleased to make your acquaintance!" she said, her voice chipper.  
"Thank you, Tokugawa-san. Next."  
As she sat down, Soyo turned around and shot Kagura an airy smile. When she turned back towards the front of the class, Kagura noticed her bounce in her seat with excitement. _Well, I'm glad_ someone _is happy to see me._ Kagura smiled as she looked out the window. _Tokugawa Soyo, huh? Why does that sound familiar…?_

* * *

When the bell rang, signifying the end of homeroom, Kagura did not even have the time to collect her books for their next lesson before she was tackled with a hug from Soyo. She gave a muffled yell of surprise as Soyo relinquished her tight grip on Kagura and fixed her long, dark hair behind her shoulder.  
"Thank you and the Yorozuya so much for what you did for my elder brother!" Soyo exclaimed, her hands placed delicately on Kagura's shoulders. "You all were such a big help!"  
"'Elder brother'?" Kagura asked.  
"Yes! Tokugawa Shige Shige, my elder brother!"  
"Ah!" Kagura's face held recognition and Soyo nodded in encouragement.

It was not too long ago that Tokugawa Shige Shige had been held hostage for ransom by one of the other street gangs, the Kada gang. The Tokugawa family were of vieux riche, having descended from royal bloodline. The family had continued to uphold their monetary status through an enterprise that the Tokugawa group had presidency over. In Tokyo, their family was considered a big deal and their mansion was easily discernible as one of the largest homes in the city. However, their social status also made them big targets for kidnappings and robberies. The Yorozuya gang found themselves involved in one of these hostage situations through a complete coincidence and had ended up freeing Tokugawa Shige Shige from the clutches of the Kada gang.

The reward from that incident – which Gintoki had reluctantly accepted – allowed the family of three to move from their old, 1R apartment to their current 3LDK apartment. Though it was not the best of homes, Kagura held much more love for their current apartment in preference to their previous, cockroach infested 1R. She quickly bowed to Soyo in gratitude.  
"We should be the ones thanking you," she stated. "That really was way too much money…"  
"Oh, you mean the reward?" Soyo giggled and Kagura decided that she much preferred the tinkling of her laughter than the cacophony from the girls she had met in the morning. "It was nothing compared to having my big brother home, safe and sound."  
Kagura made a choking noise with her throat.  
"Well, at least one of us loves their big brother…" Kagura mumbled.  
"Hm?"  
"N-nothing. Shall we head over to our next class together, then?"  
"Oh, yes, of course!"

Kagura spent the rest of her day talking to Soyo, who seemed to be the only person that wouldn't shy away from her when she mentioned the name 'Sakata' or 'Yorozuya'. When Kagura had asked for the reason as to why Soyo was not afraid of the Yorozuya, Soyo had simply smiled and stated that "there isn't anything scary about a group of people who would help save a stranger". Kagura gave her an amazed look and jumped Soyo with a hug, almost squeezing the life out of her. Not that Soyo particularly minded.

After school, when the bell for the end of afternoon homeroom had rung, Soyo suggested that they join one of the extracurricular club activities together. Kagura jumped at the idea, but made doubly sure to not mention any of the possible martial arts clubs that she had seen being advertised. _I don't want Soyo's beautiful, angel face getting damaged in any way._ Eventually, the two of them opted to join the Photography Club. It was a budding interest of Soyo's and Kagura had deemed the activity passive enough that not much work was needed, but still interesting enough to not become a chore.

The two girls, after obtaining a school rental camera each, took a trip around the school. They both took a myriad of photos of anything and everything including flowers, the school's infrastructure, a couple of photos of some of the other students in the school and way, _way_ too many selfies. Kagura found it the most fun when the girls passed by the gymnasium, courts or swimming pool and were able to snap a few action shots of the sporting clubs during their practise sessions. They tried their best to angle their shots and time their photos perfectly, aiming to obtain photos that looked as if they were meant for a sports magazine.

While they were having fun, giggling to one another about the nice show of abdominal muscle from one of the older boys in the Basketball Club, an upperclassman girl noticed the two girls with their cameras and approached them.  
"What's this? Two new members of the Photography Club?" she smiled, fixing her glasses upon her nose bridge.  
"That's right!" exclaimed Soyo. "First day on the job!"  
"That so? Can I take a look?"

Soyo happily handed both cameras over to the older girl, who peered at the shots and flicked through them with an impressed expression on her face.  
"Well, barring a couple of these shots," she gave an amused look to the girls, who giggled at the upperclassman's reference to their selfies. "Most of these are actually really well done. You girls have a talent!"  
Kagura and Soyo grinned at one another before turning back to the upperclassman for their cameras. She smiled as she returned them, a glint upon her glasses.  
"Actually, would you girls mind doing me a favour?" she asked. Her request was met by confused looks from both of her juniors.  
"I'm the president of the Newspaper Club, you see. I was just heading over to the Photography Club right now to get someone to help me, but I think you two will do just fine!" Her words elicited a positive response from both Kagura and Soyo, so she continued.  
"In a month or two, our school's Kendo Club will actually be participating in an inter-high competition," she announced, flicking her short, bobbed hair over her shoulder as she readjusted her glasses. "They're show-ins to win, you see? So, the Newspaper Club was hoping to do a story on them. How's about getting us a couple of action shots of the club during one of their practise sessions, right now? They'll be over in the school's training hall – over there, next to the gym."

It did not take very long for Kagura and Soyo to agree and, with the speed of two swallows, they quickly raced off.  
"Oh!" called the Newspaper Club president. "Make sure-y sure _sure_ that you both get a photo or twenty of the Kendo Club captain!"  
Kagura turned, mid-step, and ran backwards next to Soyo. She called back to the senior student.  
"What's his name?"  
"Don't worry, you'll know him when you see him. He's the best looking one, after all!" With that, she turned to walk back to the third-years' building as Kagura spun back around to race Soyo to find the Kendo Club.

Ten minutes later, Kagura and Soyo would arrive at the Kendo Club's training hall.

Ten minutes later, Okita Sougo would receive a fly kick to the face.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Thanks so much for waiting for this update…! Though, I suppose a day's wait isn't all that much, ahah. I really wanted to at least get to this part of the story before I became busy again. Although, I did put off a little bit of studying to finish this chapter. Oops. I'll get to that now, because I'm responsible. So responsible. Yeah!_

 _Also, thanks to the people who have reviewed my story thus far. I'm glad you think that it's worth reading, so I'll do my best to continue. Don't worry about me ever not finishing 'Street War'! The entire story is legitimately already planned out in a word document totalling just under 30k words. I'm not putting all that to waste!_

 _Love you all, 'til next time!_


	4. Chapter 3

**Street War – Chapter 3**

Sougo grimaced and gently felt his face, his cheek stinging. _That is definitely gonna leave a mark._ He glared at Kagura.  
"What in the name of hell do you think that you're doing?!" yelled Sougo, his eye twitching as his blood pressure rose.  
Kagura blinked her eyes a number of times, not quite believing what she was seeing. She gave Sougo a look of disgust and stepped backwards so that she stood next to Soyo.  
"So sorry, my bad," Kagura's voice dripped with as much sarcasm as she could muster. "You see, my foot was just really excited to see you. Not my fault."  
"So, because your foot has some sort of attraction to my face, you're just gonna barge in during our training session and kick me?" At Sougo's venomous jab, Kagura scoffed and narrowed her eyes.  
"Should I have not held myself back?" she threatened.  
Seeing no reason to further associate himself with Kagura, Sougo gratefully took the ice pack that was held out to him by Shimaru Saitou and walked over to the water bottles to grab himself a drink.

The Kendo Club members alternated between looking at Kagura and Sougo in confusion and whispering amongst one another. Their gossip was halted by Sougo's glare and a seemingly innocent question from Soyo.  
"Are the two of you friends?" Her question sparked an immediate reaction from Kagura.  
"That poop-head with the shoe-print on his face and dumb limp is my mortal enemy!" she announced, earning herself a look of chagrin – courtesy of Sougo.  
"'Dumb limp'?" he repeated. "This was your damn fault! And what about you? Where're all _your_ battle wounds? You monster."  
"Ha! You're only saying that 'coz you're weaker than me. Don't be so petty!"  
"Weaker than you? Don't kid yourself – you were way more beat up than I was. The only reason your scrapes and bruises are all gone is 'coz you're some sort of behemoth." He smirked as Kagura snarled at him, her face slowly growing red.  
"Who're you calling a behemoth?!"  
"If the shoe fits."

Before Kagura had a chance to jump Sougo again, Soyo gently gripped her friend's waist and massaged Kagura's back to calm her down. She looked around at the training hall, hoping to find something to distract her new friend from murdering the 'poop-head with a shoe-print on his face', and suddenly remembered the cameras in her hands.  
"Um, excuse me," Soyo asked one of the Kendo Club members that was closest to her. "Would I be able to meet the captain of the Kendo Club? We were sent by the Newspaper Club to get a few photos…"  
"Ah," Sougo lifted his head up from his drink. "That'd be me."

Kagura gave Sougo a critical glare, eyeing him from behind Soyo.  
"We were told he would be the best looking in club, and that obviously isn't you."  
"Well, it's a shame that you can't see what everyone else can."  
"Ew." Kagura tugged at Soyo's sleeve and started pulling her out of the training hall. "Let's get out of here, Soyo-chan. I don't think anyone wants a photo of his messed-up face. We'll get some photos of the Basketball Club, instead."  
As Soyo walked outside, she quickly turned and gave a short bow in apology for interrupting their practise session. Kagura, on the other hand, made a rude gesture at Sougo and stuck her tongue out to blow a raspberry. When Sougo mirrored Kagura's hand actions, Soyo quickly grabbed her friend's hand and ran from the building before a fight could ensue.

As he watched the two freshmen girls run away, Sougo could only sigh and rub the ice pack in his hand against his cheek. He could already feel the area start to inflame and knew that a bruise would soon appear.  
"With the way things are going, I don't think I'll be the best looking in this club anymore…" he groaned at Saitou. "Call for a five-minute break. I'm gonna go wipe the dirt off my face."  
He limped towards the water fountains, his face frozen in a scowl, as Saitou silently directed the rest of the club to cool off and take a break. Saitou watched in concern as the majority of the members move about mechanically, still dazed from their encounter with Kagura. Most of them crashed into the wall behind the benches, stumbling before falling in front of the drinks. The club members that managed to sit on the bench ended up dousing themselves in water as they missed their mouths with their water bottles. Saitou pulled up the black mask that hung around his neck and furrowed his brows as he watched them. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck as two of the younger members walked into each other and fell into a heap on the floor. _Is this club gonna be okay…?_

* * *

When he got back to his shared apartment with Hijikata, Sougo crashed onto their couch in a single, tired motion. His face hit the armrest of the couch and he winced as he felt his cheek sting upon impact. He quickly repositioned himself so that he lay on his back and closed his eyes, breathing deeply and soaking in the silence of the apartment.

Hijikata had been in the kitchen, making his usual mayonnaise special, when he heard the sound of Sougo crumpling onto their couch. From his position at the kitchen counter, he slowly peered into the living room area to quickly check on his young ward. That was when he noticed the dark bruise that was forming on Sougo's cheek.  
"Was kendo practise _that_ bad?"  
"Nah, same old," Sougo replied. "Though – could you tell that Yorozuya boss to knock some sense into that China girl? Who greets someone with a kick to the face? Honestly."  
" _Hah_?" came Hijikata's guttural response. "You've gotta be kidding. Why should I talk to that stupid perm-head? You know, in high school he-!"  
"I don't care that he spilt your mayonnaise or dog food or whatever it was," Sougo sighed. "Just hurry up and get into another fight with the Yorozuya soon so that I can teach that China girl some manners."

Hijikata smirked and turned from the living room, picking up his mayonnaise special and opening the cutlery tray to find himself a pair of chopsticks.  
"Hmph, you don't need to worry. Tonight, the usual time and place." Sougo sat up from the couch and grinned back at Hijikata.

* * *

After school had ended and Kagura had parted ways with Soyo, Kagura rushed back to her apartment and all but broke the door down in anger. She kicked off her shoes haphazardly, not bothering to place them upon the shoe rack, and ran into the kitchen to find something to stress eat. As she passed the hallway, she found her brother making himself a sandwich with his back turned towards her. Swiftly, she threw her school bag onto their kitchen counter and pounced on Kamui, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Kamui grunted in surprise before leaning forward against the kitchen counter so that his sister could rest comfortably on his back. He grabbed his sandwich from its plate and began eating in nonchalance, waiting to hear what Kagura had to say.  
"Gah! I wanna kill him so bad!" she exclaimed, clutching onto her brother's neck with one hand and pulling on his braid with the other.  
'"Kill'?" Kamui perked at the word, bread crumbs flying from his mouth as he spoke. "If it's killing you want, consider it done!"  
"Urgh, stupid big brother!" Kagura slid down from her brother's back and placed her hands on her hips, pouting at him. "If I ask you to take him out, then I don't get to enjoy beating the crap out of him myself!"

The two siblings continued their conversation, neither one noticing their surrogate father arriving home and approaching them from the hallway. Gintoki narrowed his eyes at the 'beautiful' family bonding scene, and promptly cuffed both of his children behind the ears.  
"No killing," he growled. "I'm not getting my ass hauled by the police because my kids are breaking the law. We're already in pretty tight places with the gang fights."  
Kagura stuck out her bottom lip at Gintoki while Kamui smiled and took his sandwich over to the dining table. As her brother walked out, Kagura quickly moved to the pantry cupboard to find a packet of sukonbu when she noticed a folded piece of paper in Gintoki's hand. The yellowed white of the paper was marked with black calligraphy ink, but Gintoki had crumpled the piece of paper with his grip such that Kagura could not read what it said. However, she had an inkling as to the identity of the piece of paper in her father's hand.

"It's tonight?" she asked, excitedly.  
"Yeah," Gintoki sighed. "But, seriously, who sends a letter of challenge these days? That stupid mayo-freak. It's, like, 2017 – come _on_. Just text me or something."  
As Gintoki shook his head at Hijikata's archaic method of correspondence, Kagura skipped out of the kitchen with renewed vigour and a piece of sukonbu in her mouth. She grabbed her bag from the countertop as she hustled back to her room to find herself an outfit that was less physically inhibiting.

Upon arriving at her room and opening the door, Kagura found herself being tackled by a gigantic, white ball of fluff. Sadaharu, Kagura's gigantic Samoyed puppy, had also been adopted into the Sakata family when Gintoki found him muddied and abandoned by the side of a nearby river. Not having the heart to leave him to die, Gintoki picked him up and took him to the local vet before bringing him home. Needless to say, Sadaharu and nine-year old Kagura had formed an immediate bond and the two became inseparable. Though Gintoki had muttered about needing to 'stop picking up brats in the rain', his expression softened at the happy smiles within his household and he momentarily forgot about his financial situation.

While Sadaharu had been a tiny, skinny puppy when he was first adopted into the Sakata household, he had since grown healthily and was easily larger than Kagura when standing on his hind legs. Now, a tackle from her huge dog resulted in the both of them tumbling to the ground. Gently pushing the heavy fur ball off her chest, Kagura ruffled Sadaharu's fur with joyful mirth.  
"Hey, hey, Sadaharu!" she crooned. "There's gonna be a gang fight tonight. I won't be letting that stupid sadist get the better of me this time. Whatever he dishes out at me, I'll throw back twice as much!"  
"Arf!" Sadaharu replied with enthusiasm, placing his front paws on Kagura's shoulders and wagging his tail.  
"Hm? You want in on the fun too? Ah, but we can't have this soft, white fur getting all dirty! Don't worry about me – just stay home and hold the fort, okay?"  
"Arf!"  
"Good boy!"

Sitting up from the ground, Kagura made her way to her small wardrobe and found herself a comfortable pair of dark jeggings and a black tank top. She quickly slipped off her school's sailor uniform and wiggled her way into her more form-fitting outfit. After a bit of deliberating, she deemed the night air cool enough to require a bit more outerwear and speedily grabbed a camo-patterned military-style jacket to throw on.

Checking her watch, Kagura decided that she would leave for the meeting place a little early so that she could fit in a pre-fight warm up. She hurriedly ran outside to notify Gintoki, only to find a note signed from her brother lying conspicuously on the kotatsu in the living room.  
 _'Sakamoto and Katsura needed us for some help with a last-minute job. Head on over to the meeting place by yourself and we'll meet up with you there. Be careful not to talk to any strangers on the way!'  
_ Kagura scrunched her nose at the message. She crumpled the piece of paper into a ball and threw it over her shoulder into the kitchen area, not caring whether or not it made the bin basket or not.  
"Oh well," she said. "Hey – maybe I'll hit the streets earlier and beat Kamui to some of the Shinsengumi groupies. He's always beat up, like, half of them already by the time I get there."

Such was her plan. However, reality did not ensue the way that she had planned it to.

* * *

Having finished her warm-up run through Tokyo, Kagura had been intending on jogging over to the back alleys of the city to meet up with the rest of the gangs for the street fight. However, as she traversed the moonlit streets, she ran head-first into none other than Okita Sougo. Reeling backwards in pain from having knocked her head against his shoulder, Kagura rubbed furiously at her head as she glared up at the older boy.

Sougo also rubbed at their point of impact, staring down at Kagura as she narrowed her eyes at him, as if daring him to fight her then and there. He shook his head.  
"There's no point," he drawled lazily. "The gangs are gonna be duking it out at the meeting place. There isn't much reason for me to wreck your face here in the middle of nowhere."  
"Oh, yeah, there's a point," Kagura shot back. "I get to fight you without anyone interfering!"  
"Listen, little girl-"  
"You're only two years older than me!"  
"-I'd love to destroy you right now, but I also wanna destroy Hijikata. And I can't do that unless I'm on the streets with him. So, I'm gonna get going before I'm late."  
"Ah?! You get back here right-!"

A loud crash cut Kagura off before she could finish her threat. Both teenagers turned sharply towards the sound which had emanated from a shadowy alleyway. From the darkness stepped a large group of men, their faces covered by either black surgeon's masks or bandages, each holding weapons with varying levels of lethalness. Some held iron pipes dotted in dried blood, while others had daggers and electric drills. The sea of masked men parted down the middle to reveal a beautiful woman with electric-blue hair, her face covered by a peacock-feathered fan.  
"What do we have here?" she announced with a slow tone. "A couple of rats from the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi?"

Her face darkened with a sinister expression that Kagura could feel even though it was covered by her beautiful fan. Both Kagura and Sougo swallowed in silence. They recognised the men as well as the woman who appeared to be their leader. It was the Kada gang, a group of gangsters in Tokyo that operated more as a yakuza than anything else. While both the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi did community work and helped out within the city of Tokyo, the Kada gang – led by 'Peacock Princess' Kada – held reign over many gambling rings and used swindling and violence to earn their keep. They had originally been the strongest street gang in Tokyo before the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi took their throne, fuelling a deep hatred for both gangs from the members of the Kada gang.

"Is it just the two of you by yourselves?" Princess Kada questioned, her tone ostentatious. She fluttered her fan against her cheek. "My, my – look at you. You're only children. The 'Kings of Tokyo' sure have lowered their standards, haven't they?"  
The men at her side snickered and sneered at Kagura and Sougo, who watched them warily. They both shifted their legs into a stance that allowed them a bit more freedom to choose whether they would fight or run. While they both knew that they were phenomenal fighters, neither of them was quite up to taking down an entire gang without support from their comrades.

Princess Kada laughed at two, allowing her eyes to rest on the shadows behind Kagura and Sougo. Sougo, having noticed the change in her line of sight, heightened his senses and shivered slightly. _They've got us surrounded._ He glanced at Kagura to see if she had noticed and found her moving her weight forward into her stance. He turned his eyes back towards Princess Kada, satisfied that Kagura was no longer moving to flee and was now poised to attack. _I guess we don't have much of a choice._

Without wasting any more time, Sougo leapt towards the men to the right of Princess Kada. He quickly pulled his right sleeve up, revealing the iron pipe that he had hidden beneath his sleeve, and made a wide swing towards the group of men. Managing to strike about four of the Kada gang members, Sougo quickly ducked as he felt a rush of wind from behind him. Using Sougo's shoulder as a springboard, Kagura leapt up and went into immediate close combat with three of the Kada men. After knocking a good number of the gang members away, Kagura hit the ground and pulled up as many rocks as she could, swiftly flinging them towards any masked man that she saw.

Sougo, on the other hand, was a couple metres from Kagura fending off the half of the Kada gang that had decided to go after him. He spun out of the crowd, swiftly catching one of the wayward rocks that Kagura had haphazardly thrown, and re-aimed it at the closest Kada member. He heard a visceral groan emanate from the man who promptly fell to the ground, clutching his eye. Sougo smirked at him before his attention was pulled away again by the onslaught of men at his heels, their weapons on a collision course with his vitals.

Noticing his predicament, Kagura quickly shook off the last few men who were targeting her and leapt backwards towards Sougo. She shoved against him using the blunt of her shoulder and managed to disentangle him from the grips of the Kada gang. Quickly, she looked for an escape path but was disappointed to find none. Back to back with one another, both Kagura and Sougo were completely surrounded by a hundred or so Kada gang members. Their leader, Princess Kada, had long since left the scene – leaving the dirty work to the grunts.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, huh?" Sougo grinned wearily, his head throbbing from having to handle so many attacks from every direction. His pain was further increased with Kagura's swift elbow jab to his back.  
"Don't even suggest something as disgusting as that!"  
However, as she turned to yell some more at him, she found him shooting a fist at her face. Quickly, she dodged out of the path of his punch and aimed a kick over Sougo's shoulder. With perfectly timed precision, both fighters narrowly missed each other and made impact with the Kada gang members that had snuck up behind them during their short moment of bickering.

They both watched as the two large men fell to the ground, their hearts pumping with adrenaline. Kagura shot a disgusted look up at Sougo.  
"That thing that happened? Just now?" she started. "Like it came straight out of an anime? Gross."  
"For once, I can agree with you."  
"Don't do it again."  
"How about you worry about yourself, then?"  
"Fine!"  
And thus, the fighting started again. However, this time, both Kagura and Sougo stuck closer to one another in an attempt to have a cover for their backs. Neither one would admit to that, though.

It did not take too long for the numbers of the Kada gang to dwindle. While the men may have been big, muscle-bound and equipped with dangerous makeshift weapons, they were too slow to keep up with the fast combat abilities of the duo they were trying to take down. Kagura and Sougo were both very familiar with quick methods of knocking out an opponent thanks to their individual training sessions with their respective mentors. Kamui had made quick work of teaching Kagura where all the human vital points were while Kondo Isao, one of the Shinsengumi's oldest members, had wanted to make sure that Sougo was able to defend himself from a young age. Regardless of their size and weaponry, Kagura and Sougo were well-versed in a myriad of techniques to deal with the Kada gang.

With a fluid motion, Kagura side-stepped from Sougo and knocked one of the Kada gang members off his feet with a jab behind his knees. She made to plant her foot in his face when she saw a glint of silver in her right peripheral. Surprised, Kagura quickly evaded the incoming attack only to trip over the man she had knocked to the ground. She felt a weight on her back which she identified as one of the gang members pinning her to the dirt and turned her neck to reposition herself so that she could flip him over. However, she froze as her eyes landed on a polished, silver knife making its way swiftly towards her neck. A memory flashed against her eyes; her father's body burned red as blood flowed from the knife wound in his heart. Without thinking she squeezed her eyes shut and screamed.

As quickly as the man had pinned her to the ground, Kagura suddenly felt his weight being thrown off her. She opened her eyes at the sound of metal against metal and found Sougo crouched above her, his breathing harsh as sweat trickled down his temple. Kagura blinked as her eyes readjusted to the moonlight. _That's not sweat._ As the droplets landed on her face and the familiar sting of the metallic scent made its way to her nose, Kagura shot up and gaped at Sougo. Though his bangs worked well to cover it, the trail of blood that ran down the side of his face did nothing to hide the fact that he had been cut by the knife. _The knife that was meant for me._

Sougo gave Kagura a lazy side-eye as she glared at him.  
"What was that for?!" she yelled. "What do you think you're doing? That was unnecessary!"  
"Hah?" Sougo hurled back. "Some thanks I get. You can bet that's the last time I help _you_ out."  
"Oh, yeah?" Kagura rolled away from Sougo and aimed a kick at a rock that had been thrown at Sougo. The offending stone ricocheted off her leg and flew back at the Kada member that had thrown it, knocking him square in the face. " _That's_ something I can be grateful for."

The two continued their street brawl which had, somewhere along the line, evolved into a contest to see who could beat up more people. At the end of the night, when the Kada gang had retreated due to the overwhelming ferocity of both Kagura and Sougo, Kagura turned back to Sougo with a grin on her face.  
"I got thirty-four!" she exclaimed proudly, puffing out her chest.  
"Yeah?" Sougo replied, taking off his jacket so that he could stop the blood flow from his forehead. "Well, too bad. I got thirty-five!"  
Kagura hissed at him in anger.  
"Ah?! Then – I got thirty-six!"  
"What kind of idiot are you? You just said you got thirty-four!"  
"Well, I obviously did better than you. So, I got thirty-six!" Kagura stuck up her nose at him and Sougo could only sigh in response, turning away from her.  
"This China girl is a waste of brain space. Please, God, delete her from my memory…"

Before she could retort, Kagura's phone began vibrating in the pocket of her jacket. Quickly, she pulled it out, squinting at the light of her screen, and answered the call.  
"Where in the world are you?" boomed Gintoki's voice from the speaker of her phone.  
"Sorry, I was just cleaning up some trash. I've got one more thing to chuck in a garbage can and then I'll be right there."  
"Too late, it's already been dealt with." At that, Sougo's ears perked up.  
"Eh? What happened?" Kagura asked.  
"Tie, like usual," Gintoki sighed, a tired air coating his voice. "Hurry up and get home."  
"Alright."

Kagura hung up the call and slipped her phone back into her pocket before shooting another glare at Sougo.  
"Next time, stay out of my face."  
Sougo shot her a dirty look back.  
"I could say the same to you."

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Hey! Sorry, I was gonna upload this chapter a bit earlier but I felt like it was a bit too short. So I ended up combining two chapters together to make this one. I really hope this chapter won't be paced weirdly…_

 _Oh, also, I didn't have my friend read this one before publishing it for you guys. It's, like, two in the morning where I am right now and I don't think she would be awake. ^^;;; I have, like, an awards ceremony to attend tomorrow and I'm kinda worried that I won't be able to wake up for it on time if I go to bed tonight. So I was just gonna try to bust out a couple of chapters tonight to keep myself awake. Which means none of them will be proof-read, so please tell me if there's anything wrong-!_

 _One more thing. I don't think I've ever remembered to mention this, but I've never been to Japan and I don't know how things in Japan work. I have no idea about how the yakuza operates, and what little knowledge I have is gleaned from my Japanese friends who I haven't spoken to in many years. There will be inaccuracies, but I hope you won't get too mad at me for not being entirely correct. It is just a fanfiction, after all. :)_

 _The next chapter is a short one and I'll probably keep it short, so expect it soon!_


	5. Chapter 4

**Street War – Chapter 4**

Kagura's encounter with Sougo where they had made their impromptu truce had been not even a day ago. She had not been expecting to see him again so soon. Her eyes flickered between Sougo and Sadaharu, her glare seething with venom. Sadaharu had nestled his sharp teeth tightly around Sougo's scalp and was, at that moment, covering the boy's face with dog slobber. The fact that Sadaharu was chewing Sougo's head off was the only thing that brought Kagura comfort from having to see the face of her hated rival again. She briefly thought about ripping Sadaharu off Sougo and making a break for it, but she had no time to make a move before Sougo began to speak.  
"Oi, China girl," Sougo growled, his voice drowned by the mass of fur that was covering his face. "Get your stupid mutt off me. First you, now your overgrown puppy – what's with the two of you and your obsession with my face?"  
"Hmph, Shinsengumi rat."

Whilst on a walk with Sadaharu, Kagura had wandered over to a local park. The cherry blossom trees that bordered the grassy area of the park were in full bloom and Kagura decided to stop for a while to take in the sights before the flowers withered away. A strong breeze blew across the trees and Kagura gripped her burgundy letterman jacket closer to her small frame. Sadaharu, however, had caught a whiff of something – or, rather, someone – in the wind and had quickly dashed off, snatching his leash from Kagura's loose grip. Momentarily put off-guard, Kagura blinked in confusion before rushing maniacally after her dog. When she eventually reached him, her face contorted at the sight of the brunet whose head was locked firmly between Sadaharu's fangs.

And that was how Kagura found herself in her current undesirable situation.

"Come here, Sadaharu," Kagura called out, approaching the two slowly. "If you eat him, you'll get a tummy ache."  
"I'm surprised _you_ don't get a stomach ache with all that crap you eat," Sougo deadpanned as his eyes flickered to the packet of sukonbu that peeked out from Kagura's pocket.  
"Sukonbu is _not_ crap!"  
Sadaharu had, at that point, dropped from his position on Sougo's upper torso and was sitting next to the boy, wagging his tail as his tongue stuck out from his mouth. At that moment, another strong wind blew past, ruffling Sougo's hair and lifting his bangs for only a second. However, that single second showed Kagura all she needed to see – for there, above Sougo's left eyebrow, was an ugly gash. The cut was clean and had been stitched up, but the unsettling mix of red and purple that surrounded the wound told Kagura that it probably hurt more than Sougo was letting on. Kagura allowed her eyes to linger on Sougo's forehead. Perhaps for a second too long.

"Ah?" Sougo made a disgruntled sound with his throat. "What's up with you? Creepy. Disgusting."  
"Shut up, sadist." Kagura hesitated, her eyes glancing between Sougo's face and the grassy ground. Eventually, she settled her eyes away from him and watched the cherry blossom trees dance with the wind.  
"Uh, that," she spoke again, though her tone was much more awkward than she meant it to be. "Uh, there. It looks fresh. From last night. Was that…?"  
Sougo scoffed at her. "Keh, not only do you look stupid – you sound stupid, too. This isn't anything that _you_ need to worry about."

Kagura went quiet as Sougo watched her with scrutinising eyes. Suddenly, she turned back to Sougo and glared at him.  
"What?" Sougo asked, a little startled.  
"I hate you."  
"The feeling is mutual."  
"Then why did you do it?" Kagura growled.  
Sougo raised an eyebrow in surprise at her outburst. Sadaharu looked up from his seated position, his ears alert. His eyes trained onto Sougo's clenched fist as every muscle in the boy's body tensed, his brain wracking for an answer to Kagura's question.

After a few moments, Sougo crossed his arms against his chest, his thin, black sweater wrinkling with the movement.  
"Listen, don't get ahead of yourself," Sougo smirked, his eyes focused over Kagura's right shoulder. "Did you think I was protecting you or something?"  
"You can say what you like," said Kagura as she narrowed her eyes at him. "But I've fought with you enough to know that you wouldn't get a wound like that if you had been fighting on your own."  
"Hmph."

Another strong gust of wind blew across the park, relieving another load of cherry blossom petals from the trees. They fluttered with the breeze and landed like snow on the group of three. Fighting the urge to sneeze, Kagura quickly dusted a few pink petals out of her hair and off her jacket before turning from Sougo. She shoved her hands deep into her pockets and started walking off.  
"We're going home, Sadaharu!" Kagura exclaimed.  
At that, Sougo also made to leave the park from an alternate exit. However, he was stopped by a gentle tug on his pant leg. Craning his head downwards, he found Sadaharu poised next to his right leg. The dark fabric of his jeans was caught in the Samoyed's bite, a wet spot forming as a result of the doggy saliva that had dribbled onto his pants.

When Sougo stopped moving, Sadaharu unlatched himself and bounded up and down in front of Sougo. His soft, white fur was mottled with the pink colour of the cherry blossom petals and Sougo could not help but think that Kagura's dog was much cuter than she was. After Sadaharu was sure that he had grabbed Sougo's attention, he stood still and gave the boy a deep bow. Sougo blinked at the dog, a little dazed by the action, as Sadaharu lifted his head again and resumed his tail wagging. It was when Kagura called for him – once again – that Sadaharu bounded away from Sougo, leaving the boy to his thoughts.

 _Was that meant to be a 'thank you'?_ Sougo allowed a small smile to cross his face as he turned from Kagura – successfully, this time – and walked towards the direction of his apartment. He lightly swept his bangs to the right, causing a few petals to fall from his hair, and gently touched the cut above his eyebrow. He winced at the contact and sighed, removing his hand from his face and dropping it to his side. He looked up once more to look at the trees on the outskirts of the park, their pink blossoms darkening as the sun began to set. Silently, he thought to himself that Kagura's dog had much better manners than its master.

* * *

The next day, Sougo walked into the third-years' wing and opened up his shoe locker to swap his shoes out for the day. However, when he swung the door open, he found his indoor shoes hidden beneath a bottle of iced tea and a sheet of paper. Cautiously, he took both items into his hands and read the note. _'We're even now'._ The words were almost illegible and the entire piece of paper was marred by haphazard pencil lines, as if the sender had written, erased and re-written the message a hundred times before deciding on what to write.

Sougo scoffed and scrunched up the piece of paper, turning towards a nearby bin with the intent to trash it. However, upon further deliberation, Sougo clenched his fist around the note and pocketed it instead. He looked down at the iced tea bottle in his hand, a drop of condensation sliding down its side, and slowly cracked the lid open. His face was unreadable.

"Buying me a drink doesn't balance out a stitched-up wound, you idiot."

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Sorry about the short chapter, this time! I don't have much to say, other than I'm still deciding whether I should work on my Webtoon and my fanfic at the same time or whether I should pick one. Since the Webtoon is an ongoing project, I'll probably decide to work on this first. We'll see._


	6. Chapter 5

**Street War – Chapter 5**

Sougo closed his eyes and buried his face into the corner of the couch, his body laid comfortably along the seat. He shifted a little to cover his face with his forearm, blocking the light of the room from hitting his eyes. _Maybe if I pretend I'm asleep, Hijibaka will leave me alone…  
_ "Are you listening to me, Sougo?!"  
 _No chance, huh?_ Sougo looked up and gave Hijikata his best 'you're-bothering-me-go-away' look, but the older man was undeterred.  
"Listen up, Sougo," Hijikata began, breathing a deep sigh. "You've gotten soft. We can't show those Yorozuya any mercy – so what are you doing?!"

It had been two days since Okita had fought alongside Kagura against the Kada gang. He knew that Hijikata had been itching to get in his face about 'teaming up with the enemy', but the Shinsengumi leader had been too busy attending to some business regarding the gang to sit down with Sougo and lecture him. He sat up from the couch and opened his mouth to retaliate, but held his tongue before a word got out. _I'd rather die than say something nice about that good-for-nothing China brat._

Instead, Sougo looked at Hijikata, his face unreadable.  
"So, how was sis'…?" he asked slowly.  
Hijikata's breath hitched and he coughed awkwardly. He turned from the couch and leaned against its back, looking through the hallway that connected the living room to the kitchen. He crossed his arms and sorely wished that he had a cigarette.  
"It's not looking too good," mumbled Hijikata.

Sougo's sister, Okita Mitsuba, was being hospitalised as a result of a cancerous tumour that was eating away at her lungs. The cancer had progressed to the late stages, and was deemed terminal by the hospital. However, both Sougo and Hijikata held hope that she would get better – that, by some miracle, she could fight through her cancer.

Often, Hijikata would be busy in the hospital visiting Mitsuba. Everyone in the Shinsengumi knew that the two had feelings for one another, particularly Sougo who despised Hijikata for 'stealing' his sister from him. However, due to the state of Mitsuba's health and Hijikata's own stubbornness, neither was willing to confess to the other. They did not want for their relationship to become any more painful. In order to make up for this, Hijikata had been trying to spend as much time with Mitsuba as possible – that was where he had been before his current situation with Sougo.

Realising that Sougo had managed to change the subject, Hijikata pushed himself off the back of the couch and lightly tapped the couch with his knee. Sougo glanced at Hijikata, then promptly laid back down, resting his head on the armrest. Hijikata sighed. _What a disrespectful kid.  
_ "We of the Shinsengumi cannot allow those Yorozuya ruffians to take control of the streets of Tokyo. That's why, whatever games you're playing with that little Yorozuya girl, you'd better stop."  
"She's the one who's always bothering me… And," Sougo smirked, "it's pretty fun to have her as a plaything. She's pretty amusing and a lot more fun than the rest of those boring Yorozuya losers."

Hijikata looked down at the lazing teenage boy and shut his eyes, furrowing his eyebrows. He cracked his neck and loosened up his shoulders with barely concealed irritation. _Kids these days have a weird way of 'playing' with each other._  
"So long as you don't get too friendly with the enemy, Sougo."  
Sougo scoffed. "You don't have to worry about that."  
"Good. I was getting a little worried that you were sympathising with her just 'cause you've got some similar backstories. You know – like that thing that happens in story books? Where characters have a lot of parallels and end up teaming together? Yeah, I don't need any of that from you, Sougo. Remember that our ultimate goal is to kick the Yorozuya off the streets so that we can continue our activities as usual."

Sougo shifted on the couch, having not heard half the things that had rapidly poured out of Hijikata's mouth. He moved his eyes to stare at the back of Hijikata's head as the older man moved to, presumably, make himself some food in the kitchen. His eyes narrowed in confusion.  
"Similar backstories?" Sougo asked. Hijikata stopped to turn back, curiously, at Sougo.  
"Hm? I'm sure I've told you. That little girl and her big brother were picked up by perm-head around the same time the we took in you and Mitsuba. Seems that they were in a pretty bad way, back then…"  
Once again, Sougo began to zone out Hijikata's drabble and reburied himself into the couch's cushioning. _He really talks too much…_

Slowly, his thoughts turned back to Kagura – two days ago, during the appearance of the Kada gang. The image of Kagura, metres from him, frozen in fear as the knife glinted in the moonlight flickered across his mind. Her scream resonated in his mind. Subconsciously, his hand moved to touch the stitched cut above his eyebrow and his eyes winced at the pain. _That night… Maybe…_ He sighed, and shut his eyes.  
"Well, not my business."

* * *

Elsewhere, Kagura walked from the Sakata apartment to the local park, spinning her purple umbrella as she made the trek. Gintoki had sent her out to do some work for the Yorozuya. It seemed that someone had been causing some trouble near a park, and Kagura was ordered to check the situation out. She had initially been annoyed that he had sent her out on a job so late into the day, but her mind was quickly changed when Gintoki flashed a thousand-yen note in her face.

Kagura sniffled a little as she neared the park and the scent of the cherry blossoms, once more, hit her nose. Since her meeting with Sougo, the cherry blossom trees had become very sparse and the pink petals of the flowers decorated the grass rather than the branches. Nonetheless, their flowery fragrance was still very apparent and Kagura could not wait for the smell to die off. The whole scene reminded her too much of a certain third-year that she desperately wanted to forget about.

As she neared the park, Kagura kept her eyes peeled for the supposed 'ruckus' that was reported to the Yorozuya. Thus far, she had not yet seen any signs of fighting on any large scale. _Gin-chan must've given me another dud job._ Gintoki, as an overprotective father, often sent Kagura out on the easiest jobs. Though she knew that he had the best of intentions, Kagura could not help but feel a little belittled at times by Gintoki's underestimating of her skills.

After a few minutes, Kagura was about to leave – having found nothing wrong with the peaceful state of the park – when she heard very hushed speaking behind a grove of trees. Raising her eyebrows, Kagura slowly approached the hidden area, folding in her umbrella for self-defence if necessary. She discreetly popped her head out from behind one of the trees, and scanned quickly to ascertain the situation. She blinked lazily at the sight.

 _Gin-chan sent me out to clean up some playground bullies? That's so… lame._ Hidden in the grove were a group of four boys. The three who appeared to be the ones doing the bullying looked to be around the same age as Kagura while the boy who was crouched in the middle of the group of boys looked to be a couple of years younger. His limbs were extremely skinny and his form was small, though Kagura was not sure if that was due to the fact that he was hunched over on the ground.

She silently fumed, grinding her teeth together. _What do they think they're doing?! Bullying the weak is awful._ Kagura poised herself, preparing to leap into the situation and give the three bullies an earful. However, in the short time that she had taken to adjust her positioning, the tallest of the bullies had moved and kicked the boy in the centre. Kagura's eyes widened in horror as the boy fell to the ground, huddled in a ball and unmoving.

Quickly, Kagura raced forward and struck behind the knees of the tallest bully with her umbrella. Taking care not to cause too much bodily harm – as they were normal civilians and not gang members, she reminded herself – Kagura methodically worked her way through beating down the bullies whilst asserting her dominance.  
"Listen 'ere, boys," she growled after she knocked the last of the bullies to the ground. The three boys looked back up at Kagura in fear, their legs numb. "This area is my turf. You pull something like this on my grounds again, and I'll rip you a new one. Y'hear?"  
Kagura cocked her umbrella as if it were a gun and, with bumbling speed, the three boys scrambled to escape Kagura's wrath.

Once they had left her sight, Kagura rushed back to the brunet who had fallen to the ground and gently flipped his body so that his face was no longer mashed against the grass. She pressed a hand to his chest and held his head tilted towards her face, hoping to make it easier for air to enter his airways. With her head inclined towards his, Kagura listened expectantly for signs of life. When his chest began to rise and fall beneath her hand, Kagura breathed a heavy sigh of relief. However, his breathing was coming out very wheezily which did nothing to comfort her.

"Hey, kid, are you alright?"  
In return, all Kagura received was a brief coughing fit from the boy. With one swift movement, Kagura placed a hand beneath his chin and another hand on his back. She moved him into a seated position and leaned him forward to try to accommodate his coughing fit when she felt a warm liquid drip down the hand that was held at the boy's chin. Kagura's head quickly turned at the familiar feeling of blood running from the boy's lips through her fingers.

"Oi!" she cried. "Hold on, I'll call and ambulance. No, it'll take too long."  
Though it was late in the day, the traffic was still heavy on the streets and Kagura could not trust the ambulance to arrive on time. Gulping, Kagura made a quick decision. She turned so that her back faced the boy, whose coughing fit had since halted as he had fallen unconscious once more, and draped his arms over her shoulders. Taking care not to disturb him too much, Kagura hooked her arms under his legs and gently lifted him up onto her back. She adjusted him slightly, trying to make him as comfortable as possible.

"I'll run you there," Kagura announced through gritted teeth. "Hold on tight, 'kay?"  
With that, she grabbed her umbrella in one hand and raced out of the park, kicking up a storm of cherry blossoms in the process. Her legs burned as she outsped the heavy traffic on a due course for the nearest hospital. There was a point where she blitzed right through an oncoming wave of cars, earning herself numerous honked horns. However, she did not stop to think about the consequences. _Just hang on, kid!_

In record time, Kagura barged straight through into the hospital lobby and demanded that the boy be sent to the ER. Seemingly recognising the boy, the receptionist quickly nodded and asked for a stretcher. As a number of nurses rushed into the lobby with a stretcher, ready and waiting, Kagura made an attempt to place the boy down but to no avail. She quickly found the problem – one of her hoodie strings was tightly clasped within his hand. She tried to pry his fingers off, but they would not release her.

Seeing the situation, one of the nurses pulled out a pair of scissors and asked Kagura if she would not mind cutting herself free. Understanding the seriousness of the situation, Kagura put aside her vanity and they quickly sawed through the fabric. Immediately, the young boy was moved onto the stretcher and quickly transported to a hospital bed to be rushed into the ER.

Kagura moved to follow, then realised that she was of no use in the situation. She gripped her hands into fists and bit her bottom lip. _A little faster – if I had been a little faster, he wouldn't be hurt right now._ However, before her thoughts could go any further, she felt a vibration in her pocket. Fumbling for a brief moment, Kagura eventually fished her phone out from the pocket of her shorts. She took a quick glance at the caller ID before answering the call.

"Where in the world-?" came Gintoki's voice.  
"Hospital. There was a situation at the park, one of the kids is in the ER." Kagura paused. "If you were gonna ask if I'm okay then, yes, I am."  
There was silence on the line for a few seconds before Gintoki spoke up again.  
"You're at the Oedo Hospital, right? Hang tight, I'll send Kamui over to pick you up. It's too late for little girls to be out and about on their own."  
Kagura briefly argued that she was old enough to take care of herself and that she could probably kick anyone who tried anything on her into orbit. However, Gintoki did not say anything – only sighing before hanging up the phone.

* * *

Not too long after, Hisashi Hongou opened his eyes, his nose twitching at the oxygen mask that had been placed over the lower half of his face. His eyes glanced slowly, tiredly, around at the stale hospital sight around him.

His fingers curled firmly around a grey rope of fabric.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Here we go! Wanted to blast out a few more chapters before uni hits. Sorry about them being a little slow. ^^;;;; I just got a part-time job, you see. Next chapter is also another kind of long one, so it'll take a while._

 _I'll see you again next time!_


	7. Chapter 6

**Street War – Chapter 6**

Kagura was flung across the street and hit the wall of cramped alleyway hard, falling onto her back. Before she could get back up, she felt something heavy weigh down on her neck. Squinting, she looked up to find Sougo's shadowy eyes looking down at her in disdain. She made a half-hearted attempt to shove his boot from her neck, but his leg would not budge.  
"I don't remember you being this much of a weakling," he huffed, dusting off his pants. Kagura glared back at him.

They were in the middle of another one of their gang fights though, this time, the two rivals were having a very uneven fight. Even Sougo was a little surprised – something was wrong. He pressed a little lower with his boot, digging into Kagura's collarbone, and wracked his brain for a way to ask her what was wrong without appearing as if he cared.

However, before he could begin questioning the younger girl, a flash of blood-orange hair was flung across his field of vision. Kamui had, after noticing that his sister had disappeared, leapt across the fighting across the streets and jumped over Sougo's shoulder. He landed above his sister, his back towards Sougo, and quickly round-housed Sougo's leg off Kagura as he pivoted to face Shinsengumi fighter. With her brother's intervention, Kagura was able to roll off the ground and stepped into a fighting position behind her brother. She breathed hard and rubbed at her neck, a red mark in the shape of a shoeprint blooming across her collar area.

Sougo, after having been tripped up by Kamui, regained his footing and shot a death glare at the older Sakata sibling. He was met by a manlier, more hardened version of his rival's face and, instinctively, his muscles tensed. The smile that appeared to grace Kamui's face non-stop did nothing to relieve the image of imminent demise that seemed to fog Sougo's mind. _This one is dangerous._ Despite both boys being of the same age and stature, there was an air about Kamui that demanded Sougo treat him as an elder. Sougo quickly labelled Kamui as someone who had 'seen some things' before his thoughts were interrupted by the man in question. _  
_"I think it's time for this fight to come to an end," Kamui announced, grounding his stance. "My dearest sister looks a little tired."  
"Huh? The night's just begun, I can't let Miss Muscles-For-Brains sit out now or it'll get _so_ boring," Sougo whined the last part of his sentence as if he were a spoiled child.  
Kamui laughed at Sougo's childish outburst. "Then, I'll make sure that you get to play all you want."

Before half a second could pass, Sougo found himself being flung out of the alleyway in much the same way he had flung Kagura into the enclosed space. His back slammed against the wall of a nearby building, knocking the wind out of him. Sougo's muscles trembled at the impact and he took his time standing back up as a number of his fellow Shinsengumi allies gave him worried glances.

Kamui took the opportunity to give Kagura a nod over his shoulder, indicating that she should leave. Normally, Kagura would hate anyone interfering with her fights against Sougo. However, she realised that she was not in the right frame of mind that particular night and decided that it would be best for her to take an early exit. Before leaving, she made a face at her brother.  
"'Dearest sister'…? Gross," she quipped.  
A short laugh was all Kamui could get in before he was forced to turn and catch Okita's incoming boot, stopping it from hitting his neck.

Having watched over Kagura since she was a baby, Kamui was very familiar with how his sister acted during her different moods. He knew that her current distracted state was a result of her worrying about the boy that she had taken to the hospital about a week ago. Despite being able to fend off the bullies, Kamui was sure that Kagura blamed herself for not having been able to get to the situation sooner. He smiled gently, blocking an uppercut from Sougo in the process. _Always such a strong sense of justice, that sister of mine._

Aiming a kick at Sougo's lower abdomen, Kamui stopped himself from worrying about his sister and returned his attention to his fight with Sougo. Another sadistic grin made its way onto his face as Kamui cracked his knuckles.  
"You're always playing around with my little sister. Now, it's my turn to dish out some pain for you."

* * *

The next day, Kagura arrived at school to find the Kendo Club in an uproar. With a trained ear, Kagura carefully tuned into the conversation that a few of the third-years in the club were having. Though she was not able to catch the entirety of the conversation, Kagura did manage to hear the key words 'Captain' and 'hospitalised'. A lightbulb went off in her head and Kagura grinned. _That stupid, monstrous brother of mine._ The previous night, Kamui had returned home to the Sakata household with a gigantic grin on his face and not a scratch marring his skin. Kagura had stared at her brother in bewilderment and could only imagine what had happened to Sougo. This was all the confirmation she needed. Kagura giggled as she passed by the third-years, her feet walking due course towards the first-years' shoe lockers.

However, the happy energy that filled Kagura in the morning slowly diminished as the day went on. During lessons, the time that Kagura should have spent paying attention to the teacher she used to stare out the window and think about the unnamed boy who she had 'escorted' to the hospital. Her eyes became more and more downcast as her thoughts lingered on the unhealthy pallor of his face, as if he were seemingly at death's door. Kagura clenched her teeth, gripping the pen in her hand a little too hard and cracking through the plastic. _I should've been faster. So what if it was an 'easy' job? I shouldn't have been complacent._

No-one in the class seemed to notice Kagura's inner turmoil, sans Soyo who turned in her seat at the sound of Kagura's pen splintering. Disregarding whether or not the teacher would yell at her for speaking during class, Soyo leant backwards in her chair and lightly whispered to Kagura.  
"What's wrong?" Soyo asked, her eyes wide in concern.  
Kagura flinched, tearing her eyes away from the window and turning to look straight at Soyo. Out of courtesy, Kagura made a lacklustre attempt at a smile and tried to assure Soyo that nothing was wrong.  
"Oh, yeah?" Soyo looked pointedly at the fractured pen in Kagura's hand. "You don't look very fine to me."  
Kagura sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

The two had their conversation quickly cut off by a light scolding from their teacher, warning them to be quiet so as to not disrupt the class. With a defeated look, Kagura mouthed to Soyo that she would explain everything after school had ended. Though Soyo was a bit hesitant, she quickly turned in her seat to face the blackboard again, leaving Kagura to her thoughts once more. Her eyes glanced at the front of the class to make sure that the teacher's eyes were not trained on her before she stared lethargically once more out the window.

Kagura rested her chin on her palm – her elbow settled on top of her desk – and watched as the cherry blossom trees outside the window lost the last of their petals. She was not sure how long it took for only a few blossoms to remain. And, then, there was only one. Her eyes focused onto its wobbly form as the wind struggled to separate it from the twig to which it was attached. The little blossom swayed along with the branch, clinging on to the tree as if it was for dear life. A grim smile crossed Kagura's face as she closed her eyes, intending to sleep until the end of the day. _Hang in there, kiddo._

* * *

At the sound of the end-of-day bell, Kagura was slowly roused from her slumber. Soyo watched with patience as her friend regained her bearings, her eyes crinkling with amusement as Kagura blinked at the brightness of the room and shook herself awake. Quickly, she surveyed her surroundings to find that the entire class had already left and that they were the only two left in the room. Kagura lifted her face from the small pool of drool that had accumulated on her desk and came face to face with Soyo, who gave her a pleasant smile.  
"Well? You ready to tell me what's wrong, now?"

Kagura hunched her shoulders at Soyo's question, but eventually sighed and gave in. _There's no way I can deny such a cute girl._ She slowly detailed how she had met with a little boy and had saved him from bullying in the local park. After hurriedly skipping over some details about her fight with the bullies, Kagura explained how the boy was now in critical condition due to her not being able to get to him on time. The guilty look on her face explained all that Soyo needed to know about how Kagura was feeling.  
"I can assure you, Kagura-chan, that it was not your fault that he ended up hurt," Soyo stated, a determined glint in her eyes. "Imagine what may have happened to him if you had not showed up."  
"But still…" Kagura rested her elbows on the table and placed her chin between her palms, leaning heavily.

At the sight of her friend's depressed state, Soyo decided that she needed to try to up Kagura's mood a little. She quickly wracked her brain for an answer.  
"Hey, Kagura-chan!"  
"Hm?"  
"How's about we go for a girls' day out?"  
"Eh?"  
"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Soyo hopped out of her seat and flung her bag onto her shoulders in one swift motion. "We'll meet over at Shibuya 109 in an hour, and I'm not gonna let you say no! I'll see you then!"

Without leaving any room for argument from Kagura, Soyo skipped out of the classroom. She was so excited, her speedy exit almost resulted in her crashing face-first into the wall opposite the classroom door. Kagura watched with a concerned expression as Soyo made a dash for the stairwell. _I hope she doesn't hurt herself…_ She turned back to her belongings and began packing up. _A girls' day out, huh?_ Momentarily, all her previous negative thoughts were cleared from her head, her downcast mood replaced with excitement. She had never been out with friends before – in the past, she had spent all her free time training with her brother, never really taking any time to have any fun. With Soyo's arrival in her life, Kagura had been able to start participating in activities that she thought only existed in Gintoki's cheesy TV dramas.

With a skittish energy that mirrored that of Soyo's, Kagura jumped out of her seat and dashed to get home and change.

* * *

Upon haphazardly entering her room and startling Sadaharu awake from his late-afternoon nap, Kagura's eyes quickly roamed across her room to look for an outfit to wear. As a point of laziness, her clothes were never folded and packed away nicely in a wardrobe or closet. Instead, Kagura chose to offload her worn clothes either on the floor or the back of her desk chair. On some of her particularly lazy days, Kagura would climb into bed and throw off her clothes underneath the blanket, subsequently falling asleep.  
"It's efficient," she had told Gintoki.  
"You're being a slob," he had retorted. Though his actions betrayed his seemingly harsh words as he would never fail to launder her crumpled articles of clothing.

Kagura's eyes landed on a pile of clothes near the foot of her bed and she quickly stepped across her room to rummage through it. She quickly sniffed each piece of apparel, throwing anything that she deemed unwearable over her shoulder to form a new, crumpled pile by her bedroom door. Sadaharu promptly left his resting spot on Kagura's bed and nestled himself in the growing pile of clothing, enveloping himself in his owner's scent and falling back asleep. Kagura looked over her shoulder to find her dog curled up amongst her clothes and she gave a gentle smile, reducing the force at which she was throwing her jackets and pants onto the pile.

Eventually, she settled on a hoodie and pair of shorts that did not smell over a week old and quickly kicked off her school uniform to get changed. It took barely a minute for her to chaotically throw her 'new' outfit on, after which she made a speedy grab for her brother's hand-me-down sling bag that was handing on her bedpost and raced out of her bedroom. She almost made it out of the house before she was stopped by Gintoki, who pulled on the back of her hoodie to effectively stop her exit.

"What're you up to at this time of day, young lady?" he asked suspiciously. Kagura craned her neck backwards so she could look up at Gintoki, who was standing behind her.  
"I'm going out with Soyo-chan!" she exclaimed, twisting around so that his grip on her hoodie was relinquished. She held out her arms in a jubilant fashion and grinned. "We're gonna go shopping and stuff."  
Gintoki was quiet for a while, his eyes staring lazily at his daughter's ecstatic expression. After a couple of moments, Gintoki dug his hand into his back pocket.  
"Palms out, kid."  
"Huh?" Without realising, Kagura had instinctively held her hands out to Gintoki who dropped a 5,000-yen note into her open palms.  
"Go have yourself some fun," he drawled, yawning as he turned to walk over to his bedroom. Kagura's eyes widened in delight and she ran after Gintoki and jumped on his shoulders, squealing. He affectionately ruffled her hair before telling her to hurry and leave so that he could have a nap.

* * *

Once the girls met over at Shibuya 109 (and Kagura had gotten over the fact that Soyo had, like, a million bodyguards at her beck and call), they immediately set their sights on the nearest clothing store they could find. Kagura and Soyo quickly rushed in, playing dress-up with one another and not actually buying anything. It was during one of their impromptu fashion shows that Soyo noticed Kagura's sports sling bag.  
"Hey, is that yours, Kagura-chan?" she indicated towards the large, un-cute bag that Kagura had kicked to the side.  
"Uh, yeah," Kagura said, a strange bubble arising in her throat. "It's kinda ugly, isn't it? It was originally my brother's, but he handed it down to me when he got a new bag."  
"Your brother has quite an awful sense of fashion."  
"Tell me about it," Kagura sighed.

Soyo's face lit up.  
"Hey, let's head over to another store and see if we can find you a cute tote bag or something!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together.  
"Oh!" Kagura's face brightened. "Yeah, let's go! Just 'coz my brother's unfashionable doesn't mean that I have to be, too. Y'know, the other day, he wore socks with sandals."  
"No. Way."  
Giggling, the girls ran out of the clothing store.

* * *

In the meanwhile, Sougo and Hijikata were walking towards the Oedo Hospital. Well, Hijikata was walking while Sougo was limping in pain.  
"You and that China girl, as you call her, are evenly matched, aren't you?" Hijikata absentmindedly noted. In return, he received a painful grunt and a nod from Sougo.  
"So… her brother must be a ton better than she is for him to have broken your arm without breaking so much as a sweat."  
Sougo winced. There was no denying what Hijikata was saying – the proof being that his arm was currently in a cast and every part of body ached in pain. He grumbled lightly. _And just when the damage dealt by China had healed up._ Shifting his eyes off the sidewalk for a few moments, he looked down at his cast and silently glared. The break had been extremely clean, and Sougo knew from experience that it would heal stronger than it had been before. He would be even more fit to fight after a few weeks, and that fact irritated Sougo more than losing to Kamui did. The break had even been on his non-dominant arm, as if to add insult to injury. _Damn those Sakata siblings. One's a brainless buffoon with no hold on her strength, and the other is disgustingly calculated and sadistic. How the heck am I supposed to deal with that?_

As he was lost in his thoughts, a passer-by accidentally knocked into his left side, placing further pressure on his injury. He was close to doubling over in pain, and looked up with a contorted expression. The person who had run into him quickly turned and began to bow.  
"Ah, I'm sorry-!" However, their apology was cut short when the speaker took notice of who they had bumped into. "Sadist!"

Sougo turned his neck to look at Kagura.  
"Ah?" he growled. "It's you."  
"You look awful!" Kagura exclaimed, her face a mixture of mirth and disgust. "I guess my stupid big brother really did a number on ya, huh?"  
" _I_ look awful?" Sougo retorted. "What about you? You look awful all the time and you don't even need to get beaten up to look it. I mean, is the Yorozuya boss so poor that you can't even afford decent clothing?"  
Kagura looked down at her hoodie, realising that it was the same one she had worn on the day that she saved the little boy in the park. She had done so much running about with Soyo during their shopping fest that the fraying edge of her hoodie string had unravelled into a jumbled mess of thread against her hoodie. Kagura blushed.

"Hmph, whatever," Kagura turned away from Sougo. "I don't have the time for you, today. You're ruining my time with Soyo-chan. Let's go, yeah?"  
Soyo nodded, hoping to avoid a possible fight between the two arch-nemeses, and the two girls rushed off once again. As he watched them drag one another into a store that appeared to sell bags, Sougo muttered a little about hurricane-like girls before he turned back to Hijikata.  
"C'mon, let's hurry and get your arm checked out," Hijikata stated. "If we're quick enough, visiting hours might still be open.

Sougo caught the older man's tone and followed as quick as his injuries would allow, though not before tripping Hijikata over with his leg.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _So… It's been a while, ahah. Yeah, I know I promised this chapter ages ago. Between starting uni and having a job, I didn't realise it'd be this difficult to write my new chapters. ^^;;; It's a long weekend right now, so maybe I'll get another chapter out…? No promises, this time._

 _Also, on a side note, I went to watch Ordinal Scale with my friends! Man, the animation was great. Have any of you guys watched it, yet? I wasn't a big fan of SAO, but I think they did pretty good with the movie. No spoilers though, if you have watched it._

 _See you next time!_


	8. Chapter 7

**Street War – Chapter 7**

Upon finishing his check-up at the hospital, Sougo rushed over to his sister's room to be pampered by her. His injuries and the hospital staff did nothing to deter his speed as he ran on a due course towards her ward. Hijikata could understand Sougo's excitement, though he maintained his demeanour and walked at a comfortable pace towards Mitsuba's room. _I'll let Sougo have a few minutes alone with her, I guess._

Sougo's mad dash towards his sister's room only slowed when he was within twenty metres of her door. He decreased his speed and calmed his breathing, wiping away the sweat on his forehead using his good hand. Glancing at a particularly reflective glass door, he gave himself a once-over to check if his appearance was decent. At the sight of his tousled hair, he quickly fixed his bangs back onto his forehead to cover the stitched knife wound and dusted himself off.

Slowly and quietly, he walked steadily towards Mitsuba's room and knocked, announcing himself before he entered her room.  
"Ah, Sou-chan! It's good to see you," his sister gently exclaimed.  
Mitsuba's hospital room was well-lit with an added warm tinge from the light of the setting Sun. Sougo quickly scanned the room, in case of anything that was amiss, before trotting obediently over to his sister.  
"How are you, sis'?" he asked, his face lit up in the best smile he could manage. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit you, lately. It's been a little hectic. Has Hijikata-san been bothering you?"  
"No, no, Toshiro-san's been fine," she chuckled. "But, Sou-chan…"

Mitsuba glanced at her younger brother's casted arm, her eyebrows scrunched in worry and concern.  
"Are you okay?"  
"Hm?" Sougo quickly looked at his arm and waved it off, good-naturedly. "Oh, this? It's nothing. Just a super strong opponent in the gang fights, is all."  
His sister reached out to place her hand on his cast and gave him a gentle smile.  
"Well, just make sure to take care of yourself, okay?"  
"What're you talking about, sis'? It isn't me you need to worry about."  
"I suppose…"  
At that moment, Hijikata sauntered into the hospital room, a bottle of tabasco in hand.  
"Yo, Mitsuba," he greeted. "You've been well?"  
"Yes, thank you Hijikata-san," she replied, her face lit up in delight. "Is that for me?"

With his sister's attention stolen from him, Sougo pouted and turned to leave the hospital room, softly closing the door behind him. He turned to take a leisurely walk through the hospital before he would need to return to Mitsuba's room and drag Hijikata away from the hospital at the end of visiting hours. However, before he could get too far from her room, his eyes were caught by the nameplate of the room adjacent room. _Hisashi Hongou?_ Sougo tilted his head to the side, blinking his eyes in confusion. _Hm? I thought he had already left the hospital…_

Having to visit the hospital due to his sister's illness had made Sougo familiar with Hongou. The boy had been sickly from birth and was not given a very long time to live. On some days, when Sougo was particularly bored and his sister was being monopolised by Hijikata, he would sit in Hongou's room and chat with the boy. He empathised with Hongou's situation as his sister was facing a very similar fate, and he felt inclined to help make the boy smile. Sougo knew that Hongou did not have any friends as he was unable to go to school due to his physical condition, and tried to visit as often as he could.

However, as of recent, Hongou's health had improved to the point that he did not need as many hospital interventions as before. When Sougo had noticed that Hongou's nameplate had been taken down, he had assumed that the boy had gotten better and had been discharged from the hospital. _What's he doing back here?_

Curiously, Sougo popped his head through the gap between Hongou's hospital room door and the doorframe. His eyes searched the dark room and found the frail boy seated up in his bed looking forlornly out at the trees outside of his window. Cracking the door open a few centimetres further, Sougo slipped through the opening and lightly walked towards Hongou's bed. His footsteps broke Hongou from his reverie. As the boy turned, his eyes focused onto Sougo's approaching form and a gentle smile broke out across his face.

"Okita-san, it's nice to see you again!" Hongou spoke, his tone chipper.  
"Hm," grunted Sougo in reply. "And why are you back here? Last I saw, you were fit as a fiddle."  
"Eheh, I guess I'm still weaker than the hospital thought I was. I couldn't even handle a couple of bullies, it was so pathetic…"  
Sougo narrowed his eyes.  
"Bullies?"  
"Yeah, at the park near Oedo Hospital."

Hongou recounted the events a few days past, when he had finally been discharged from hospital and was able to attend Gintama High as a student. However, a number of students mistook his long hospital stay as a result of him having a contagious illness, and refused to befriend him. Three of the boys ganged up on him in the park, trying to chase him away from their school. Sougo listened to Hongou's story with concealed rage, subtly taking note of the physical description of the bullies and running them through his memory bank so that he could hunt Hongou's bullies down.

As he mentally listed every possible torture technique he could use against Hongou's bullies, Sougo's eyes were drawn down to Hongou's hands. The bedridden boy had been fidgeting about with a grey, fraying string, looping it between his fingers whilst also tying and untying the fabric. A sense of déjà vu overcame the older boy and he shoved his good hand into his pocket, scrutinising the item in Hongou's hands. _Where have I seen that today…?_ After a few moments, Sougo spoke up again to break the silence.

"Well, next time you get caught up in some trouble, call me," he ordered, carefully walking around to the chair that had been placed beside Hongou's bed. "I _am_ a part of the Shinsengumi, after all. It's our job to help people – well, I guess."  
Hongou smiled.  
"Thanks! Actually, I _was_ helped out by someone with the bully situation," Hongou admitted, shyly scratching the nape of his neck. "I don't know her name or anything, but I thought she was so cool standing up to those bullies all on her own. And… well, I was also a little jealous. I could never do something like that."  
Sougo's eyes narrowed in suspicion. _A monstrously strong girl who managed to beat up three high school boys on her own… There's no way._

Placing the hoodie string down into his lap, Hongou turned his head from Sougo and stared – once more – out the window at the trees.  
"I only saw her from behind, and even then I was on the verge of passing out. I heard that she carried me all the way to the hospital," Hongou chuckled, his face red. "Apparently, I wouldn't let go of her. They ended up having to cut her free from me… Ah, how embarrassing."  
 _A cut hoodie string…?_ Sougo had a horrible feeling that he knew the direction in which this conversation was heading, but he proceeded regardless.  
"Oi, Hongou," he began.  
"Yes?"  
"Uh, that girl. Did she – kind of – have a stupid sounding accent?"  
"Accent?" Hongou repeated, as he turned his eyes back to Sougo. "I guess she said 'aru' a lot… Does that count?"

 _Check – one._ Sougo swallowed.  
"And how about her hair? Was it kept in these two stupid penis sheaths?"  
Hongou blushed.  
" _Okita-san_ , I think they were hair ornaments," he brusquely interjected. "But, yes. Where are you going with this…?"  
 _Check – two._  
"Ah, that girl… I think, I might know who she is," Sougo said hesitantly, his tone clipped.  
"Eh?!" Hongou's eyes lit up, his cheeks flushed harder. "Really, Okita-san? If so, do you think you could tell her that I'm very grateful to her?"

Sougo choked. His eyes glanced warily at nothing in particular as he began to sweat profusely. Hongou watched him in confusion, his eyebrows raised in concern.  
"Okita-san?"  
"Uh, I'm not too keen on speaking with her," Sougo gruffly mumbled. _I can barely stand looking at her._ "But, listen, I'll get her to come here – how's that?"  
"No way, really?" Sougo was sure that Hongou's grin could split his face, it was so wide. "Thank you so much, Okita-san!"

Sougo muttered under his breath.  
"It's fine." _What am I doing?_ He sighed, ruffling his hair and lowering his posture in his seat. _Ah, it's all 'cause I've got a soft spot for this kid._ Sougo sat up from the chair and, after taking a glance at the clock, bade farewell to Hongou before making the short trek back to his sister's room to drag Hijikata from the hospital.

 _Now… how dead is China gonna kill me when I try to talk to her…?_

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Wow, has it only been a day since I last posted a chapter? Man, it sure felt like a long time, eh?_

… _Sorry ^^;;_


	9. Chapter 8

**Street War – Chapter 8**

"Get. _Away_. From. Me."

It was worse than Sougo had thought. The morning after he had met with Hongou, Sougo had smacked himself in the chest and decided to ask his hated rival to go to the hospital to meet with his sickly friend. He had popped into her classroom before morning homeroom – which was not hard to find in the least since he could hear her childish laughter from the other side of the building – and did a quick scan of the students to find her distinctive head of hair. Upon making eye contact with Kagura, the girl's happy expression immediately faded as she narrowed her eyes at him and made a hissing sound. The cat-like sound only intensified as he approached her.

"Listen, I just need to talk about something," Sougo attempted, holding his hands up in mock surrender. However, with not too much warning, Kagura quickly pushed herself out of her seat and made a quick exit. Via the window. In a flash, Sougo had rushed to the window and watched in irritation as his underclassman easily made the two-storey drop, landing with poise and grace before promptly flipping him off and dashing away. He could feel his eye begin to twitch as his temple began to throb. _I can't fucking believe this._

"Wow, Kagura-chan was almost like a cat, just now!" came an enthusiastic voice to Sougo's right side. As he turned his head, he came face to face with Kagura's best friend who seemed to hold no concern for Kagura's questionable method of escape. She gave him a big smile and clasped her hands together.  
"I guess she doesn't like you very much, does she?"  
At Soyo's remark, Sougo could only scoff. "It'd be disgusting if it was the opposite."

After slightly inclining his head towards Soyo, Sougo turned to walk out of the first-year classroom and return to the third-years' wing. He let out a long sigh. _How annoying. As if dealing with her wasn't enough – the first-years and third-years are in different buildings._ As he made the long trek back to his classroom, his calm demeanour betraying nothing of his underlying thoughts, Sougo began contemplating telling Hongou to give up.  
"I don't wanna talk to her about all this sappy 'thank you' stuff, and she won't let me tell her to meet Hongou," he muttered. "The hell am I s'posed to do?"  
However, deep down, Sougo already knew that he would go through with Hongou's request. He sighed. _I really am too nice to the guy…_

Sougo had almost reached the entranceway for the first-years' building and was about to make a left turn for the third-years' building when a small group of girls ran past him.  
"Oh, thank goodness we made it in time!" one of them cried out in relief, her breathing coming out in short pants.  
"Yeah, we were almost late!" came a reply. The girls' conversation continued, though Sougo was unable to hear any of it over the loud, clanging noises of the girls' shoe lockers being hurriedly opened and closed.

As the last shoe locker was closed and the girls ran off toward their classroom, a lightbulb went off in Sougo's mind and he stood rigidly still. A chill went up his spine. _Do I really…? It's… a little cheesy. Gross._ He shook his head, fishing in his pocket for a pen and some scrap paper. _And, anyway, she did it first._ By chance, the note that Kagura had written to Sougo when she had dropped off the bottle of iced tea in his shoe locker was still in his pocket which he unfolded and flipped over. With as much grace as he could manage with a broken arm and no writing surface, Sougo quickly scribbled a quick letter to Kagura and re-folded the piece of paper. He backtracked to the first-years' shoe lockers, did a quick glance over each shoulder to make sure no-one was looking, and began scanning the nameplates above each locker. _Sakata… Sakata… Ah, Sakata Kagura._

* * *

"Oh my God, though, Kagura-chan," Soyo exclaimed, a hushed giggle at the back of her throat. "Where were you after you escaped from Okita-senpai? You should've seen our classmates' faces – I think a couple of them swallowed flies, their jaws dropped so low!"  
"Heh, well," Kagura chuckled. "After I saw his disgusting face, my day was pretty much ruined. So I thought I'd hit an arcade or something to get my mind off him. I was about to just head home, but then I remembered that I had left all my stuff here at school."  
Soyo smiled, the lines around her eyes crinkling cutely. "Next time, I'll drop you your bag from out the window."  
"Oh!" Kagura grinned. "Nice one, Soyo-chan!"  
The two girls continued their banter down the hallway, all the way to the shoe lockers. Kagura swiftly opened her locker door, only for a piece of paper to smack her in the face. Almost as if it was calculated.

With a low growl, Kagura swiped the note that had fallen onto her face and held the offending item as far as she could from her body.  
"Well, well – what's this?" Soyo angled her head downwards to peek at the note in Kagura's hand. "Do you have a secret admirer, Kagura-chan?"  
Kagura turned Soyo's words over in her head for a short moment – ' _secret admirer_ ' – before shaking her head vigorously. She knew better. _I smell Shinsengumi rat all over this._ Her mind flickered back to the events that had transpired that morning, and was almost tempted to burn the thing. However, as the thought crossed her head, her fingers twitched against the crumpled paper. _Curiosity killed the cat._

Kagura slowly opened the note up, half expecting for a spider or something to crawl out, and quietly read the sickeningly neat handwriting that she knew for sure belonged to the youngest Shinsengumi member. However, as she read through the note, her face paled.  
 _The kid from the park that you sent to the ER wants to see you again. Meet me in the third-years' wing.  
_ "Uh, Soyo-chan?" Kagura timidly started. "I'm gonna hafta ditch you for today. You mind?"  
With a shake of the head from Soyo, Kagura speedily grabbed her outdoor shoes and slammed her shoe locker closed. She quickly ran out of the school building, throwing a quick "see you tomorrow" at Soyo to which the young heiress could only wave back in confusion.  
"See you tomorrow?"

* * *

Racing over to the third-years' classrooms, Kagura waited outside in an inconspicuous position to try to spot Sougo out from the crowd. Eventually, she found him slinking towards his shoe lockers, and really that was the only way she could describe the way that the older boy walked. Whether it was the years of battle experience or just his nature as a sadist, he had a way of walking about that was both silent and disgustingly calculated. Kagura could understand how this guy made it as kendo captain, with his honed form, though she would never admit that to him.

"Oi! Sadist!" Kagura called out, hesitantly jogging towards him. Sougo turned his head towards her, before narrowing his eyes and turning back towards his locker.  
"Oh, so _now_ you're okay to speak to me, huh?" he quipped childishly. "Should _I_ jump out a window, this time?"  
"You can jump off a bridge, for all I care," was Kagura's blunt reply. "But, before that – how in the world do you know about the incident in the park?! What're you, a stalker?"  
Sougo rolled his eyes.  
"That guy, Hisashi Hongou, is a frequenter of the hospital. He's got a pretty weak constitution and, since I'm always in the hospital anyways, I've ended up meeting with him pretty often. For whatever reason, he wants to see your gorilla of a face again."

That earnt him a swift jab to the abdomen. As Sougo was reeling in pain, mumbling something about crazy gorilla girls and their stupid brothers, Kagura blinked in slight confusion and stood quiet and still.  
"Huh?" Sougo said, a questioning look on his face. "What's up with you? Don't wanna see him?"  
"That's not it…" Kagura mumbled, her eyebrows furrowed. "What are _you_ doing in the hospital so much that you ended up becoming friends with a patient?"  
Sougo realised his mistake.  
"Not any of _your_ business," he quickly replied. "Come on – you wanna see him or not? Or are you gonna make this poor guy wait for you forever?"  
"No, I'll go. But why do I have to go with you?"

Halfway through their bickering, Kagura had begun walking towards the hospital and, without quite noticing, Sougo had naturally started walking in the same direction. He blinked, startled by the sudden realisation, but continued walking beside her.  
"I'm needing to head over to the hospital, anyways," he gruffly exclaimed. "We're not going together, we're just walking in the same direction."  
Kagura glanced at him before scrunching her face up and pointedly walking in the opposite direction. Slightly caught off-guard, Sougo stopped moving. He turned his neck and, after ensuring there was a distance of three metres between the two, began quietly following after her.  
"What's going on with you?" he called.  
"I'm going to buy, uh, Musashi-kun a gift," came Kagura's tense reply.  
"Hisashi. Hisashi Hongou."  
"Whatever – a visiting gift. You go on your way."

As he watched her power walk away, Sougo subtly increased the length of his stride and followed behind her. He made sure his footfalls were loud enough for Kagura to hear, and maintained his distance. After a few moments, he got his expected reaction from her.  
"What do you think you're up to _now_?" Kagura yelled back to him.  
 _I really don't know, China girl._ "If I leave you to get there on your own, you'll never get to Hongou's room - you're such an idiot, after all. I'll see to it that you meet up with him properly. I guess, every so often, I should at least _try_ to do something Shinsengumi-ish."  
"Hah? And what makes you think that I won't see Musashi-kun, huh?" Kagura stopped her fierce power walk away from Sougo and swiftly turned around to glare at him. She received a critical look in return.  
"Let's ignore the fact that you can't even remember his name," he started, a tired look in his eyes, before turning his head away from her piercing gaze. "The other day, when you were distracted at the gang fight and I beat the crap outta you, you were thinking about him weren't you?"

His words elicited a sharp intake from Kagura. _Damn, of course he has to be smart.  
_ "What about it?" she challenged.  
"You're probably worried, and think that it's your fault," Sougo stated. "You don't wanna see him because of the guilt… That's the reason you haven't even tried to visit him this whole time, right?"  
The more Sougo spoke, the more prickly and uncomfortable Kagura felt. _'Cause he's absolutely right._  
"I'll make sure you don't chicken out," he said as he crossed the three metres of distance between them. "The sooner you talk to him, the sooner my plaything – that'd be you – gets back to tip-top fighting shape. Now hurry up and get him that gift so we can go. Visiting hours will be over if you take too long."  
With a glare, Kagura turned once more away from him and began walking toward the gift shop with renewed fervour. Sougo could only follow.

* * *

 _She's acting weird._ Sougo had walked with Kagura to the gift store – some small business named Night Glory – and had picked a recluse corner at the back of the store to sit and wait for her. However, five minutes after Kagura had begun to search for Hongou's gift, Sougo began to notice that her movement patterns were a little strange. Her eyes flitted about to all of the phone charms, plush toys, coloured stationery and small sundries, though never quite focusing on any one in particular. She walked about the store in a mysterious, circular pattern, and seemed to draw nearer to Sougo with each cycle. _Her eyes keep darting over to me, as well… Hm? Oh._

Sougo smirked. _She doesn't know the first thing about Hongou, does she?_ With a new feeling of superiority, which he did not usually feel around Kagura despite his older status, Sougo stood up from his chair and leaned over Kagura, grabbing the Rubik's cube keychain she had picked up. He twirled the keychain on his index finger for effect.  
"Want some help?" he practically purred.  
Lowering her head as if to hide herself, Kagura dropped her shoulders in defeat, her cheeks a little pink with embarrassment.  
"I… haven't ever bought a present for someone before," she mumbled. "Especially a boy who I don't really know."

Sougo blinked.  
"A-ah. Yeah. Well, Hongou's a big fan of real boring stuff that takes a lot of time and patience. Like origami or knitting or something. Take a look in the crafts section." He spoke hurriedly and his tone was curt, his head turning from Kagura before she could even reply.  
"Uh, yeah, thanks sadist. Gee, you're being surprisingly accommodating today…"  
 _You can say that again._ After Kagura was far enough from him that he was sure she could not see his face, Sougo allowed himself to turn and look at her again. _What the hell was that? Why is it so hot right now?_

Sougo aimlessly browsed through some of the keychains that were in front of him, hoping to look busy. His fingers brushed listlessly across the store's various keychains and plush toys. _For a minute, she looked… almost cute? No, no, nah. Nah. It's, uh, what do they call it? Gap moe? Yeah, that's it; she's usually such a violent, disgusting gorilla that whatever it was just really out of the ordinary. Or, it might just be my inner sadist seeing her as a small animal that I can torture. Yeah. Okay, okay. I'm good._

As his thoughts ran amok, Sougo's fingers clasped around a small keychain, a glass dog featured on it. His eyes wandered down to it, and he absentmindedly thought that it looked a bit too uncannily like his rival's own dog, who had so graciously thanked him for saving his master. _I wonder if she'd like it…_ At the thought, Sougo quickly released the keychain as if it was molten lava. _What in the world am I doing, really?_

As a Shinsengumi member, it was only a matter of course that he should despise the Yorozuya. _This is only 'cause Hongou's a good guy – I'm just helping him see the stupid China girl again_. There was no other reason, he continued to tell himself. No other reason.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Phew, how about that? Two chapters right after one another – pretty good, eh? Well, it is school break right now, so I should think about getting a couple more out. Let's see how I go._

 _Also, tell me what you think so far! ^^ Whether it's something nice or you're just pointing out a mistake that I made, seeing your messages is super motivating. "It's nice to know that people are actually reading and enjoying this story…" Something like that._


	10. Chapter 9

**Street War – Chapter 9**

Kagura was nervous as she walked to the hospital. Not because she would have to see Hongou, again – a boy who she may or may not have had a hand in sending to the hospital. No; her problem lied with the Shinsengumi who was walking a couple steps behind her. She fidgeted with the hem of her tracksuit jacket which she had pulled over her sailor uniform. There was no need for her to turn to look at his face – she could feel the glare that he was sending her way. Sougo had been directing his gaze at her for a while now, and she wasn't quite sure as to what she had done. For a minute, in the gift shop, she had _almost_ thought that he was nice when he had helped her to find a present for Hongou. So, she wasn't quite sure what had caused his mood to change.

The hairs on the back of her neck raised slightly as Kagura's ears picked up on the sound of Sougo's muffled growl. She was tempted to make a light joke of it, to try to ease the mood, but thought better of it when she glanced over her shoulder to seemingly find a black cloud enshrouding Sougo's figure. In a second, Kagura had averted her gaze. Sweat started forming on her brow and she slowed down momentarily to wipe it off with her sleeve. _What's eating him?_ However, she did not have a lot of time to dwell on it.

They had reached the hospital.

* * *

As Sougo led Kagura through the hospital, the young Yorozuya could not help but feel the need to zip up her jacket all the way to the neck so that she could bury her nose into the collar. The air was stifling. All throughout the hallways, Kagura could smell the strong scent of disinfectant and alcohol-based hand sanitiser – all, of which, contributed into a most unpleasant experience for her.

Kagura didn't often need to go to a hospital, if at all – her run to the ER a couple of days ago to escort Hongou there was the first time in many years. Often, if she were to ever be injured in training or some other physical activity, her monstrous healing abilities would take care of it without the need for a hospital trip. She was never too sure as to how her body managed to recuperate so quickly, but it seemed genetic – her brother could also heal extremely quickly, if not even quicker than she could.

Eventually, after walking down the same white hallways for ten or fifteen minutes, Kagura was finally led to Hisashi Hongou's room. Sougo stood to the side for her to enter first, though she noticed that his eyes kept drifting towards the room next door to Hongou's. Her eyes glanced up to the nameplate. _Okita Mitsuba…?  
_ "Hurry up, already," Sougo growled, looking down at her with the same glare that he had been directing to her on their way to the hospital.  
"Ah, right," Kagura responded. With her gift bag of colourfully printed origami paper in one hand, she gently pushed the door open and popped her head through the small crack.

"Hello?" she called out, searching through the room with both shyness and hesitancy.  
"Yes?" came a soft reply. "Come in."  
With the invitation, Kagura carefully cracked the door open a little further and stepped into the dimly lit hospital room. The hospital lights had been turned down and the warm light of the Sun filtered through the trees, providing just enough light to see but not being blinding enough to induce a headache. Upon entering, Kagura kept her eyes focused on her shoes until she reached Hongou's bed. Slowly, she lifted her gaze up.

Staring back at her was the same boy that she had met in the park, a thick novel in his hands. His dark, blue-green eyes looked back at her in confusion before widening in a sudden realisation. With his mouth slightly agape, the boy slowly closed his book over a strange, grey bookmark and moved to set it aside. Kagura offhandedly noted the length of the book. _Sadist was right, I guess. This guy really does like overly boring things that need lots of patience._

"Um," Kagura squeaked out, hoping to break the award silence that had filled the room. "It's nice to see you again. I'm Kagura. Uh, I hope you're doing okay after… y'know. I was pretty freaked out when you started coughing up blood like that, and…"  
Her words trailed off when she noticed that Hongou had not moved an inch, his eyes still trained onto her, his face blank. With a jolt of fear, Kagura felt herself retreat towards the door, her hands clutched tightly at her sides. _Sadist was also right about me wanting to run away, dammit.  
_ "Uh, I get it if you don't wanna see me," she tried again to make a conversation. "I wasn't very much help to you, and you ended up landing in the hospital anyways."

A sense of panic began to overwhelm Kagura as she realised that the boy she was speaking to had not spoken a word, and she began to wonder if he thought that it was unforgivable that she could not help him sooner. She began sweating bullets and a voice in the back of her head started to endlessly tell her to ' _abort mission now'_. With a clumsy flourish, Kagura lifted up the relatively large and colourful paper bag that contained her gift. Her voice came out fast and in clipped, awkward tones.  
"Um, I got you these. I'll put them here. I'll leave now, see you-!"  
"Ah, wait, don't go!" Hongou exclaimed as loud as his weak constitution would allow.

Mindlessly, Kagura froze in her attempt to escape. _Now what?_ She watched as Hongou quickly shoved his book beneath his pillow and turned back to her, his face pink and his eyes lit up.  
"It was you, right? Kagura-chan was the one who saved me from those bullies the other day?" Hongou leaned forwards in Kagura's direction, and the young high schooler squirmed beneath his gaze. She slowly dropped her head, suddenly finding the hospital floor as interesting as an avant-garde art piece. Gently, she placed Hongou's gift down onto the seat at his bedside.  
"Well, I wouldn't say that I helped you," she mumbled, her voice trailing off. "I let you get into such a state, even though I was right there. I failed as a Yorozuya."

Hongou's ears perked at the word, and his eyes widened in surprise.  
"Eh? You're a part of the Yorozuya, Kagura-chan?" he exclaimed.  
"Yeah," Kagura stated, raising her head once more in a slight show of pride.  
"Wait – but I thought that the Yorozuya gang was at odds with the Shinsengumi?"  
"You're not wrong, there."  
"Then, how did Okita-san manage to get you to come here?" At his words, Kagura paused for the slightest of moments. She hesitated before answering him.  
"Well, I was wanting to come see you anyways…" she said, looking nervously off to the side. "I wanted to ask if you were doing okay."

Kagura's words made Hongou flush even more, his cheeks darkening so much that she worried he might have a fever.  
"Um, are you okay?" she slowly asked, walking closer to the bed again in case the bedridden boy were to faint. Without missing a beat, Hongou straightened his posture and waved both his arms frantically in front of his face.  
"Ah, no, I'm fine!" he denied vigorously. "Either way, Kagura-chan, you really don't need to worry at all about me being in the hospital – it most certainly was _not_ your fault! I can only imagine what would have become of me had you not been there, that day. So, please do not worry yourself any further. I'm doing just fine so thank you, Kagura-chan!"  
The boy's beaming smile was contagious – he practically lit up the room – and Kagura found herself smiling along with him. Slowly, she began to feel like her usual self, again.

"I see, that's great!" she said enthusiastically, her hands on her hips. "Attaboy, Musashi-kun!"  
"M-Musashi…?" Hongou asked, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips. However, Kagura had distracted herself with finding another chair to slide over beside Hongou's bed since the one already there was now occupied by his gift.  
"Look here," she exclaimed, her hands grasping the large paper bag once more. "I wasn't too sure what it was that I should get you, but Sadist told me that you like origami and stuff. So, I got you all these origami papers!"  
With great joy, Kagura lifted out a few square sheets of paper with varying sizes, colours and patterns out from the paper bag. She dropped a few on the ground, and a couple of others haphazardly fell onto Hongou's bedsheets. However, he did not mind in the slightest. As Kagura pulled out more and more of the coloured sheets, the splash of colour from each square as well as their reflection in Kagura's eyes seemed to paint Hongou's stiflingly white hospital room with a joyous palette. _I don't think I've ever seen anything so pretty._

"I really like them, Kagura-chan!" Hongou spoke happily.  
"Is that so?" Kagura exclaimed, throwing a few more squares of paper in the air in her excitement. "I guess that Sadist did a pretty good job, then. Of course, it was _me_ who picked out the really pretty ones for you. I reckon you've got enough here to last you 'til you're old and grey!"  
Hongou's face shifted a little, but his gentle smile returned in a split second.  
"Sadist?" he asked, a hint of mirth in his voice.  
"Ah, that Shinsengumi rat!" Kagura answered passionately, her right hand balled into a fist. "I don't know how you stand him – he's just an idiot. Though, I _suppose_ I should probably thank him for helping me out with this gift. You seem to really like it, after all."  
Hongou laughed. "Yeah, I do like it, Kagura-chan!"  
"Then I guess it's okay," she responded, a grin returning to her face.

Quickly, Kagura knelt down to gather up the fallen sheets of paper. Absentmindedly, she held one up to the fading sunlight and squinted her eyes.  
"Hm, so kids like you like these sorts of things, huh?" she wondered aloud. In response, Hongou's expression switched to one of amusement, and Kagura had a strange feeling that something was amiss.  
"Hm…?" she murmured.  
"Good God, China, I can't stand to see you make a fool of yourself for much longer."

The two occupants of Hongou's small hospital room turned quickly at the sudden voice which had interjected into their conversation. Sougo stood at the doorway, his shoulder leant against the doorframe as he looked down in disdain at Kagura and the mess that she had made.  
"Just _what_ are you on about, Sadist?" Kagura growled back as she dumped her collection of origami papers back into the paper bag. Hongou followed suit, though he placed his stack of papers back into the bag with much more delicacy. Sougo scoffed at her question.  
"Hongou is _older_ than you, China," Sougo drawled. "He's a second-year at our school."

 _A second-year?_ Kagura blinked. _Wait, a second year?!_ In record time, Kagura had turned away from the door and whipped her head towards Hongou.  
"No – really?" she questioned, her eyebrows raised in shock. With a gentle – yet amused – affirmative nod from Hongou, Kagura fumbled with her words and dropped into a ninety-degree bow.  
"Uh, uh – uh?!" she blubbered. "Sorry? U-um, _senpai_ …?"  
"No, no, it's okay," Hongou chuckled, leaning forward in his bed to grab Kagura's shoulders and lift her back up. "It's fine to just call me by my name. I don't go to school, so I'm not actually considered an upperclassman."  
He pulled away from her and gestured towards his skinny frame. "And, I'm not surprised that Kagura-chan thought I was younger than her. I sure don't look it, right?"

Though a small part of her still felt bad at her own mess up, Kagura breathed a sigh of relief at Hongou's reassuring smile. _Keigo and all that polite speech stuff was never my thing, anyways.  
_ "Keh," Sougo made a noise with the back of his throat, his tone irritated. "'Senpai', huh? I don't think you've ever called _me_ that, China."  
"Because you don't deserve respect, Sadist," came her immediate reply.  
"Ah, Hongou – I'll take this one away from you. You shouldn't be in her presence, anymore, or she'll poison you."  
" _You're_ the one poisoning others!"  
At Sougo's gruff tone, Hongou could only chuckle. There was no doubt that Sougo was only telling her to leave since visiting hours were almost over. _Okita-san's always got such a roundabout way of doing things._

"Well, see ya then!" Kagura called out, having already walked to the door to head on home. Feeling a sense of panic as he watched her feet approach the door, Hongou quickly spoke up.  
"Ah, Kagura-chan wait!" he timidly yelled.  
"Hm?"  
A little nervous, Hongou continued.  
"Um, could you maybe… come visit again?" His question trailed off at the end with a squeak and he mentally berated himself for allowing his weakness to show up in his voice. Kagura, however, thought nothing of it.  
"Of course!" she exclaimed. "See ya!"  
With that, she gleefully dashed out of the hospital room and received more than a few glares from the hospital staff who all scolded her for running through the halls.

Sougo, on the other hand, chose to take a bit more time walking out of the hospital room. He glanced over his shoulder at Hongou and, seeing the giddy look on his friend's face, couldn't help but smile a bit. _It's been a while since I've seen him look this lively. I guess that China girl is good for something._ As he stepped out of the room and gently close the door behind him, he chose to ignore the tense feeling that seemed to well up in his chest.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _It looks like we've just hit the one-third mark in the story! Two more thirds to go, according to my story scaffold. I hope the pacing of these chapters have been okay – I'm so busy with uni, I've decided to bulk write a couple of chapters today (because it's a public holiday xD) and then upload them steadily over a couple of weeks. Probably not gonna be weekly uploads, though - maybe every couple of days?_

 _Sorry if it all seems a little bit rushed ^^ I hope I can keep the quality going, but it's a little difficult on this keyboard that I'm using (the keys are so sticky!). I reckon by the end of tonight, I should be able to get up to chapter 12 written? That's the plan, anyways. Hopefully, I can get a couple more out as well._

 _Also, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed (on Fanfiction . net) or replied/messaged (on Tumblr) to my chapters! Just a word of warning that I do go back and edit the chapters that are on Fanfiction . net, but not on Tumblr. That's why, the chapters might be a teensy bit different between the two, but the storyline is still the same so don't worry! Also,_ _ **I have just edited chapters 0 through to 8 as of 18/04/2017. Please let me know if the process messed up and the chapters are out of order or something – I'll get it fixed ASAP.**_

 _Well then, see you when I see you!_


	11. Chapter 10

**Street War – Chapter 10**

"Hey, Gin-chan?" Kagura asked once she had arrived home from the hospital and had made herself comfortable on the couch in their living room area.  
"Hm?" Gintoki murmured his reply, his eyes focused on the television screen in front of him.  
"Who's 'Okita Mitsuba'?" At his daughter's words, Gintoki's ears perked up a little.  
"Hm? And how do you know that name?" he interrogated.  
"Well, you know that boy I helped over to the hospital the other day?"  
"Yeah?"  
"His room's right next to an 'Okita Mitsuba'. The Sadist was looking at the room all weird, so I was wondering who it was…"

Gintoki gave his daughter a conflicted look before grabbing the remote and flicking the television off. He turned towards her on the couch and watched as she hugged her legs to her chest, her chin resting on her knees. _So even Kagura knows how to be respectful, sometimes.  
_ "Hm, well," Gintoki began. "Do you remember a couple years back? When the Shinsengumi suddenly stopped trying to start fights with us?"

Kagura remembered. At the time, the Yorozuya had been in a state of confusion, unsure as to exactly what had happened to make the normally full-of-fight Hijikata Toshiro stop his challenges against the Yorozuya. Without any street brawls, Kagura could only watch as the majority of the Yorozuya began to grow restless, their usual routine broken without any warning. Takasugi, Sakamoto and Katsura, however, were strangely calm – as was Gintoki. Kagura was not entirely sure as to what was going on, herself, but she knew that it must not have been something that she needed to worry about if Gintoki did not seem to pay it too much mind.

"Yeah, I remember," stated Kagura. "The mayo-freak disappeared for about a month, right?"  
"Right," confirmed Gintoki. "He sent me a letter the day before, telling me that one of the Okita siblings that had joined the Shinsengumi was being admitted to hospital. I'm not too sure on the specifics, but it seemed pretty serious."  
He paused and, after awkwardly scratching the nape of his neck, continued.  
"And, well. I'm not too big on the gang wars, myself," he sighed. "It's a good way to let off some steam, but Hijikata is the one instigating them anyways. It seemed like a nice holiday for a while, so I just let it be."

Like an old man at the end of a long day, Gintoki leaned back in his seat and drawled out a long sigh.  
"Then, a month later," he breathed out. "Hijikata called for another brawl as if nothing had happened. Soon, I just forgot about it – I figured whoever had been admitted to hospital must have gotten better. I guess not."  
Kagura shifted uncomfortably in her seat, her top teeth gnawing slightly on her exposed knees.  
"So, Okita Mitsuba is the Sadist's…?" she hesitantly asked.  
"Yeah, older sister," answered Gintoki, ruffling his daughter's untied hair. "Like how I picked up you and Kamui, Hijikata picked up Okita Mitsuba and Okita Sougo, and invited them into the Shinsengumi."

At the lack of a reaction, Gintoki looked down to his right side to study Kagura's face. His eyes softened at her troubled expression. _She usually doesn't think deeply like this._ He stood up carefully and, in almost no time at all, his seat was taken by Sadaharu. The gigantic canine cuddled against his owner's side, attempting to cheer her up. A small smile graced Kagura's face as she combed her fingers through Sadaharu's immaculate fur.

Before he left, Gintoki asked Kagura but a single question.  
"Why do you seem to care so much, anyway?" he threw at her, before walking back to the kitchen to find himself a snack. Kagura watched his back as he walked away from the living area, her eyes widening in realisation. Her lip twitched. _Why_ do _I care so much about that Shinsengumi?_ Peeling herself off the couch, Kagura walked off to her room and flopped onto her bed, falling asleep almost immediately as Sadaharu hopped into bed and snuggled beside her.

 _I've been thinking too much today – time to let the brain rest._

* * *

The weekend eventually came, though not soon enough in Kagura's opinion. She woke up at the crack of one o'clock in the afternoon, and mentally congratulated herself for waking up so early on a Saturday. After brushing her teeth, washing her face, and deeming her hair clean enough to not need a wash that morning, Kagura dashed over to her wardrobe to find something clean to wear. It was one of those rare days that Gintoki would come into her room and launder all the clothes she had thrown into her 'floordrobe' and 'chairdrobe', and sometimes even her 'bedrobe'.

After settling on a white, cat-eared hoodie and a pair of black, skinny jeans, Kagura skipped out of the apartment. On the way out, she assured Gintoki that she would be home in time for dinner – to which she received a lazy wave and a loud snore from the direction of the couch. Upon slipping her high-top sneakers on, Kagura steadily began to jog in the direction of Oedo Hospital, having promised to meet with Hongou again that weekend after visiting him throughout the school week.

* * *

"Oh, wow, Kagura-chan!" Hongou exclaimed. "You and Soyo-san really have a talent!"  
In his hands, Hongou held a stack of developed photographs – taken, courtesy of Kagura and Soyo. He eagerly flicked through them, holding each image close to his heart and running his eyes over them again and again as if they were his own memories.  
"You like 'em?" Kagura grinned. "Soyo-chan and I wanted to take some pictures for you. You're always here in this drab hospital room – you must get tired of all this white and grey, yes? So we went out and took heaps of pictures for you! You can take a look at these if you ever get tired of your books and this room."

Hongou grinned, looking back down at the images that he held in his hands. He marvelled at the beauty of the cherry blossoms; he fawned over Sadaharu's cuteness; he laughed at the silliness of Kagura's and Soyo's funny faces. All the while, Kagura watched from his bedside as Hongou's expressions shifted to and fro. Though she enjoyed visiting him just to make sure that he was well and healthy, what she loved the most about seeing Hongou was the pure delight that he would have towards the things she would bring from outside the hospital. He had amusing reactions to just about anything, and Kagura enjoyed watching him look so happy. She felt like she was making up for letting him get hurt, despite the fact that Hongou had repeatedly assured her that she was not at all at fault.

As Hongou continued flipping through the photos, his eyes lingered on one of her and Sougo locked in mid-fight. Kagura noticed his expression change and peered over his shoulder at the image, her eyes narrowing upon sight.  
"Soyo-chan must've taken that one," she grumbled. "The Sadist was being particularly annoying that day. Hm, if you ignore _him_ , though, I think I look pretty good in this photo."  
While Kagura continued to admire her fighting form, Hongou turned back to the photo and focused his eyes onto Sougo's expression. He had known the older boy for a long time and knew that it was scarcely ever that a smile ever graced his face. Unless, of course, his older sister was involved. It made Hongou happy to see such a light expression on Sougo's face, despite the violent context of the photo.

"Hey, Kagura-chan?" asked Hongou as he set the photos aside on his bedside table.  
"Yeah?" replied Kagura.  
"Can I ask why the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi are always having those street fights? I've asked Okita-san before, but he said something strange about there being some conflict over… mayonnaise?"  
"Ah, well, for once the Sadist isn't lying."  
"Eh?"

Kagura sighed and leant back in her chair, crossing her arms behind her neck as a brace.  
"It's a long story," she began, gazing up at the ceiling. "But, well, the Shinsengumi boss is a mayo-freak, you see. He loves mayonnaise more than anything in the world. Apparently, in high school, the Yorozuya boss – _my_ boss – ended up spilling some mayonnaise by accident during a lunch break or something. At the time, the two already had their own followings of some high school misfits. After the incident, more and more people began joining the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi to duke it out with one another. To be honest, at this point I don't think the fights are over mayonnaise anymore. It's more of a way for our two gangs to go wild – we're free to go all out."

"Is that so?" wondered Hongou. "But, both of your gangs… You guys do good things for the community, right? The Yorozuya help out with odd jobs, and the Shinsengumi work as volunteers. I don't see why you guys hate each other so much."  
"Well, I'm not too sure about the rest of the group," Kagura said as she turned back to Hongou. "But I would think that they have the same reasons as me. You see, it's more fun to fight another team if you have some reason to hate their guts. There's more passion – everyone feels the need to go all out. I'm sure some people aren't even sure about the whole mayonnaise story – they just want a place to belong, a family to fight together with. The Sadist, too."  
Kagura shook her head, as if she was utterly disgusted with herself to even be speaking about her hated rival.  
"He's an idiot, but he's strong," she stated, and that was about as close to a compliment as she would likely _ever_ give to the youngest Shinsengumi. "Because he's got a place to belong to and a family to fight for."

As he listened on, Hongou clenched his fists underneath the bedsheets. His eyes glittered with determination as he redirected his eyes back to the photographs that lied on his bedside table. _This is the world through the eyes of someone who is strong._ He took a deep breath in. _This is the world through the eyes of someone who can fight._ Releasing his clenched fists, Hongou turned back to Kagura.  
"You… Do you think _I_ could be strong like that, someday?" he stated, the words feeling foreign on his tongue. Kagura tilted her head at him.  
"Hm?" she grinned. "Of course! That's why you've gotta get better quickly. Then, you can join the Yorozuya and help me kick the Sadist's butt!"

The two began to laugh.  
"Well," Hongou began. "I don't think I could go against Okita-san, but I'll try my best!"  
Kagura stood up, taking a quick glance at the clock that hung up on the wall, and made a disappointed expression at Hongou.  
"Visiting hours are almost over," she murmured. "I'd better get going. The next time I'm free, I'll come and see you again, okay?"  
"Yeah, sure!"

After cheerfully waving at Hongou, Kagura stepped out of the hospital room and closed the door behind her. When he heard the door click back into place, Hongou reached beneath his pillow and pulled out his book, opening it again to reveal a familiar, grey hoodie string. It had continued fraying, and most of it was now a mess of thread. He grasped onto it carefully with both hands and closed his eyes. _I'll get better. Quickly. Then, with Okita-san and Kagura-chan, I'll be able to get stronger, too._

* * *

As Kagura left Hongou's room, she came face to face with Sougo who was coincidentally leaving Mitsuba's room at the same time. Upon seeing Kagura, he froze. Confused as to why her brother had paused during his exit of her room, Okita Mitsuba spoke up.  
"What's wrong, Sou-chan?" she called, startling Sougo into action. However, before he could cover his sister's line of vision, she had caught sight of Kagura.

"Oh, who's the cute girl?" she cooed, leaning to the right of her hospital bed to get a better look at Kagura. Without much of a choice, Sougo grabbed Kagura's wrist and pulled the struggling girl into Mitsuba's room, muffling her cries of protest against his shoulder.  
"An underclassman from Gintama High," he said, sweetly. "She became friends with Hongou-kun, so that's how I know her."  
He beamed a smile of abnormal proportions at his sister, and Kagura could only look on in shock and a little bit of disgust.

"Sadist, what the hell?" she asked, unbelieving of the sight before her eyes.  
"'Sadist'…?" repeated Mitsuba, her head tilted in confusion. Upon his sister's questioning gaze, Sougo tightened his grip on Kagura's wrist.  
"Ah, she's a foreigner so a couple of words she isn't too sure about," Sougo quickly covered. "You meant 'senpai', right?"  
Kagura gave him a strange look, tugging her hand from his grip to no apparent avail.  
"Ah? What are you-?" But, before she could finish, Sougo shot her the scariest and most evil side-eye she had ever experienced. A little shaken, Kagura stopped tugging her left arm away and turned back to Mitsuba.  
"O-oh, yeah!" she squeaked out enthusiastically. "Okita-senpai, right!"

Mitsuba gave Kagura a gentle smile.  
"Ah, well it is nice to meet you," she chuckled. "My name is Okita Mitsuba, and I'm Sou-chan's older sister. And you would be…?"  
"Oh," Kagura stood up a little straighter. "Sakata Kagura – nice ta meetcha."  
A quick elbow to the side from Sougo, and Kagura quickly spoke again.  
"I mean, pleased to make your acquaintance."  
"Yes, it's nice to meet you too, Sakata Kagura-chan," Mitsuba stated.

 _Hm?_ Mitsuba blinked in surprise.  
"Eh?" she spoke. "Wait, 'Sakata'?"  
At the sound of her father's surname, Kagura began to panic. She had completely forgotten that the kind, gentle-looking Okita Mitsuba was a member of the Shinsengumi. Unsure as to how she should act – whether or not she should put up a pretence of hatred against this frail-looking woman – Kagura shied away from Mitsuba's bed and towards the door. The only thing stopping her from leaving was Sougo's hand, still wrapped firmly around her wrist.

Instead, Kagura could only fidget with the hem of her hoodie, awaiting the lashing that she would expect from any other member of the Shinsengumi.  
"Oh, how cute!" Mitsuba exclaimed, placing her palms against her cheeks in excitement. "Are the Yorozuya and Shinsengumi making friends, now?"  
Kagura looked up in confusion. _Friends?  
_ "Um, not really?" she hesitantly stated. "There are still fights, like, every week or so."  
Mitsuba's expression dropped, her eyes showing pure disappointment.  
"Oh… I see."

Menacingly, Sougo pulled on Kagura's arm. She swallowed in response.  
"But, well, I mean – there aren't as many fights as there used to be, and-" Kagura finally managed to yank her arm free from Sougo's grip and promptly smacked him on the back as hard as she could under the pretence of being amiable. "-we've at least got a good classmate relationship going!"  
Kagura shot Mitsuba a wonky grin, trying to make a show of good will, as Sougo glared at her from the corner of his eye.

"Oh! Is that so?" Mitsuba's face lit up. "Then, if you two get married, will the two groups end up merging together?"  
Kagura and Sougo stiffened. As quickly as he could manage, Sougo wracked his brain to say something to allow them to escape.  
"Uh, sis'?" he stuttered. "I think visiting hours are about to end, so I'll escort her out now, okay? I'll see you next time I'm free."

Awkwardly, Sougo quickly bowed to his sister and turned to leave. Kagura also bobbed her head a little in respect, and followed Sougo out of the hospital room. Inside, Mitsuba giggled. _It's so fun to mess with him._ Then, she sighed. _Though I really do wish that Toshiro-san and the Yorozuya boss would stop all this fighting. I get the thrill factor, but it isn't a good way to be relieving their stress._

* * *

Stepping out of the hospital with Sougo, Kagura squinted at the red-orange glow of the sunset. She opened her mouth to speak, but was immediately hushed by Sougo's glare in her direction.  
"Don't tell anyone about what you saw in the hospital," he growled, standing close to Kagura so that he was able to take full advantage of their height difference to look down at her.  
"Hah?" came Kagura's guttural reply. "And why should I listen to what it is that _you_ have to say? I'm Yorozuya, remember?"  
Sougo scoffed.  
"Listen," he began. "My sister is terminal, okay? At least have her privacy and peace, before…"  
Kagura hesitated at his words, shrinking away at his intimidating figure looming over her.  
"And I don't want your pity, either," he sighed. "Just stay out of our way and everything will be fine."

Kagura said nothing, her mind flickering back to her own parents who were no longer on this Earth, and her heart went out to Sougo for a short moment. However, as soon as the feeling came, she forced it away again. _I can't be growing soft on these Shinsengumi dogs. His sister is another matter – just because I'm being mindful of her does not mean I will cut him any slack._ Without another word, Kagura turned from Sougo and began her trek home to her apartment.

Though he was a little surprised at Kagura's lack of response, Sougo paid it no mind. He also began to walk back to the apartment that he shared with Hijikata when a nurse rushed out to the hospital entranceway, almost crashing into him.  
"Sir, it's an emergency!" she exclaimed. "Please head over to the emergency room, right now."  
Sougo's face paled, his brain failing to function as the nurse began to explain the situation to him. Slowly and mechanically, his body started to move into action and he allowed his muscles to take him to the emergency room. Only a single thought raced through his mind.

 _Sis…?_

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Um, I'm sorry if you don't know what I mean by 'floordrobe' and 'chairdrobe' and 'bedrobe'. Like, a wardrobe. But you chuck your clothes on the floor or on that one chair in your room. Sometimes on the half of your bed that you don't sleep in. Come on, it can't just be me._

 _Once again, this chapter might be a little longer than usual. It's because I had planned for this one to be two separate chapters, but I thought it might be better for them to be together._


	12. Chapter 11

**Street War – Chapter 11**

Sunday morning was dark and grey, despite it being the middle of spring. Kagura stared listlessly out into the distance from the window in the apartment living area, sipping absentmindedly on the strawberry milk that she had stolen from Gintoki. She sighed as she watched the heavy clouds begin to let loose a few droplets of rain. They fell from the heavens and clung to the window, and Kagura watched as they slowly crawled towards the windowsill. Kamui walked into the living area to find Kagura letting out a long sigh.  
"Come on, now, little sis'," he crooned. "What's got _you_ all worked up today?"  
"Rain," was as much of a reply as Kagura was willing to give. Luckily, Kamui did not need too long of an answer to figure out what his sister was thinking about.  
"Hmm… Bringin' back some bad mem'ries?"

Kagura shifted uncomfortably in her position by the window and, sensing her bad mood, Sadaharu dashed over from the couch to lay in her lap. She looked down at his snow-like fur, and gently pet him with a grateful hand.  
"I was… a little too young to remember mami's face," Kagura stated. "But… I do remember it clearly. The day that she died."  
Kamui sat beside his sister and gave her a sullen look. He tousled her hair gently.  
"Her cheeks were so hollow, and her skin was so pale. The rain, that day, it poured down so heavily. It's almost as if it washed the life right out of her." Kagura curled up into a ball. "That's why I hate it – the rain."

Pushing his bangs out of his face, Kamui gazed sadly at his sister. There was not much that he could say in this situation. Kagura was much too young to have both of her parents die in front of her eyes. Her mother was very ill and died when Kagura was only four years old. Her father was quick to follow and was murdered in the dead of the night when Kagura was five. That experience, in particular, had traumatised Kagura. She had been sleeping beside her father, that night, and was awoken by the sound of a robber breaking through their window. By the time that Kamui had heard the commotion and had run into the room, the robber had escaped. He found their father draped protectively over his daughter and a massive volume of blood was flowing from a wound located in the man's chest.

Since then, the two had been passed from relative to relative, but neither particularly enjoyed the experience. So, when Kamui and Kagura were nine and seven years of age – respectively – they ran away.  
"But, remember?" Kamui said, holding his sister close. "Gintoki _found_ us on a rainy night. If it weren't for him, we'd definitely be dead – or, at least, shiverin' behind some dumpster somewhere of hypothermia. So, cheer up a bit – the rain doesn't only carry bad memories."  
Kagura looked up from her brother's chest, giving him a crooked smile.  
"What's up with _you_ , today?" she smirked. "You're acting like you're my brother."  
Kamui's tousling of his sister's hair intensified.  
"Oh? Now, that _is_ strange, innit?"

Gently and quietly, Kagura slipped out from underneath her dog who had fallen asleep in her lap. She stretched for a few moments, before announcing that she was getting changed to meet with Hongou.  
"Staying at home all day is boring," she argued when Gintoki had told her that she would catch a cold. Though he was still hesitant to let her go, she assured him that she would keep her umbrella with her at all times. "Besides, I'll be inside for most of the day anyways. Hongou's room isn't out in the rain, or anything."  
Eventually, he relented and Kagura bounded off to slip into something a little warmer.

After she found a warm, hooded parka, Kagura pulled out a pair of boots and snatched her purple umbrella off the rack before heading out. As she made the walk from her apartment to the hospital, she carefully looked ahead to check for puddles along the sidewalk. She made it a point to steer clear of any paths that looked too muddy as she did not want the hospital staff to yell at her for tracking mud and dirt into the hospital.

Kagura's short detours led her to a nearby cemetery, where she noticed a large gathering of people dressed in black, crowded around a gravestone. _Someone's passed…?_ She looked up accusingly at the heavy, grey clouds and, almost as if to reply to her, the sky began to thunder. Kagura narrowed her eyes and slowly approached the crowd – even a crude girl like her understood that there was a time and place to be respectful. However, as she got closer, she began to recognise some of the faces in the crowd.

 _Gorilla? Jimmy? Afro?_ Kagura glanced a bit further into the crowd. _Mayo-freak? Sadist?_ Then, her eyes rested upon the picture which lay against the tombstone. _Okita… Mitsuba?_ She blinked in disbelief. She had just seen Mitsuba yesterday and she had looked as healthy as could be. Kagura's eyes blinked away hot tears, her bottom lip trembling. _Such a kind, gentle person… She couldn't have, in such a short amount of time…!_

Kagura shook her head. From the back of the crowd, she watched as the members of the Shinsengumi each walked up to the tombstone and laid down a lily. The entire ceremony was solemn and silent, with the sound of the rain drowning out everything else. Kagura could only watch, keeping hidden behind another tombstone within the cemetery. She was not too sure that any of the Shinsengumi members would want to see a Yorozuya at the moment. _Really, I should leave – I have no business being here_. But, in the short time that Kagura had spent talking to Mitsuba, she could not help but feel utterly torn that such a beautiful, kind and gentle person had been taken away by death's claws. Kagura thought it only right that she join them in mourning.

Glancing at Sougo, Kagura found his eyes to be dry. It was the rain dripping off his hair onto his face that wet his cheeks – she could see no signs of crying in his still gaze. Turning away from him, Kagura rested her back against the tombstone that she was hiding behind and pulled her knees into her chest. She bowed her head, thinking deeply. _Can he not even cry?_ Kagura scanned the crowd of Shinsengumi members, and she noted that every single one of them was crying. Even Hijikata, who Kagura had deemed as having as much emotion as a piece of paper, had tears streaming down his cheeks as he sniffled into a tissue.

Eventually, the Shinsengumi began to leave. One by one, they bowed in respect and left the cemetery, leaving only Sougo, Hijikata and Kagura. As the hours passed and it neared evening, Hijikata shifted to rest his palm on Sougo's shoulder. Then, he – too – stalked off into the distance, his hands placed deep into his pockets. Kagura watched as he left, ensuring that she stayed hidden behind the tombstone. Her eyes softened slightly as she noticed Hijikata's shoulders tremble, his head bowed down in grief.

After a few moments, Kagura turned back to Sougo. _Why am I still here…?_ Although she had her umbrella, she had been outside for so long that she was still wet to the bone. Her parka clung uncomfortably to her body and her leggings and boots weighed heavily with the added water weight. Her hair had flattened considerably and her skin was pale, her fingers frozen. It was the middle of spring, but the weather was freezing cold as if the heavens were crying at the loss of Mitsuba. As such, she just could not understand why it was that Okita Sougo did not cry.

Kagura watched as Sougo removed his black suit jacket, folding it up and allowing it to hang on his right arm. Offhandedly, Kagura noted that his left arm was now out of its cast, though she was not sure if it was in usable condition as it lay limp by his side. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of his white dress shirt slowly soaking up the rain. Making sure that there were no Shinsengumi members around, she slowly made her way over to Sougo's still form.

As she neared him, he began to speak.  
"You've been here for six hours," he muttered, stopping Kagura in her tracks. "What the hell, China?"  
"You knew?" she questioned, standing slightly behind the Shinsengumi member on his left side.  
"It's hard _not_ to notice a bumbling oaf like you." Usually, she would have shot an insult back. However, Kagura did not even have the heart to play along, today.  
" _You've_ been here for longer," she rationalised. "You'll get sick. She wouldn't want that."

At his lack of response, Kagura turned her attention from him to look down at the pile of lilies. She knelt closer to the ground and placed her palms together in respect, softly closing her eyes. Silently, she prayed that – wherever Mitsuba was now – the eldest Okita sibling was no longer suffering. After a few moments, Kagura stood up again though she kept her eyes closed.  
"You can cry, y'know," she stated, fixing her umbrella so that it covered the both of them. "There's no-one here besides me, and I'm not looking."

Sougo made a strange noise with his throat, somewhere between a scoff, a chuckle and a cry.  
"And what happened to staying out of Shinsengumi business, hah?" he questioned. "Little Yorozuya piggy."  
Kagura half opened her eyes, giving Sougo a look.  
"I'll be upset, as a Yorozuya, if my Shinsengumi plaything isn't in top condition," stated Kagura. At her response, Sougo hummed a low note.

After a long pause, Kagura spoke again.  
"So cry already, you stupid Chihuahua. What's the point of holding it in?"  
"I'm not holding anything in," Sougo argued.  
"That doesn't explain the constipated face you're making, right now."  
"There are better ways of phrasing that, you realise?" Kagura ignored his curt quip.  
"What have you been _doing_ , standing here?" she spat at him. "Would your sister be proud of you for bottling up your emotions like this?"  
"My sister would have wanted me to be happy, and that's what I'm going to do, for her sake," Sougo said, as he turned to look at the girl by his side. He gave her a defeated look. "I'm going to be happy."

"Listen here!" yelled Kagura. "All you're doing is making yourself hurt more. You're meant to be a sadist, but you're just acting like a masochist right now!"  
She was beginning to grow angry, the handle of her umbrella splintering under her harsh grip.  
"I _know_ you, Sadist. You love your sister more than anything, don't you? That was the only time I had ever seen you make such a disgustingly sweet face. So, that's why, don't hold it in. Cry, why don't you?"

Still, Sougo stood silently. Though his eyes trembled, he would not allow himself to cry.  
"I can't," he whimpered. "What if sis' is watching right now? She needs to see me happy."  
Kagura growled at him, closing her umbrella and dropping it to the ground.  
"Agh, to hell with it!" she shouted, pivoting on her right foot as she shot a strong, left-knee into Sougo's abdomen. Though it wasn't strong enough to send him flying, Kagura was satisfied that it did the job as Sougo blinked at her in shock.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Kagura asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Since it hurts _so_ much, your sister will understand you crying just a little bit."  
Sougo's eyes widened and, after a couple of minutes had passed, he looked back down at the ground. His bottom lip began to quiver.  
"I-I'm not… crying because I'm sad. You hear?" he sniffled. "It's 'cause you had the element of surprise and it hurts. Alright? You hear?"  
Kagura did not say anything, only watching as Sougo kneeled on the ground and sobbed, his pants dirtied by the mud. Unsure as to what else she could do, Kagura sat down next to him and reopened her umbrella to shelter them once more. Awkwardly, she began to pat his left arm.

Instinctively, Sougo reached out with his opposite hand to grasp onto Kagura's fingers. He gripped firmly, but gently, as if to focus himself. Then, for another hour, Sougo curled into himself and continued to cry. Kagura watched him from the corner of her eye, holding his hand and providing whatever comfort she could. _Just for today, we aren't Yorozuya and Shinsengumi._ She closed her eyes and let the rain wash away her own tears. _Just for today, we'll be friends._

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Whoop, here we go – another chapter! And, expect another one coming soon. Maybe now? Maybe after I come home from work? Who knows, ahah. But expect it soon. ^3^_


	13. Chapter 12

**Street War – Chapter 12**

The rain continued to fall heavily, and Kagura's umbrella did nothing as a barrier for the two teenagers. Despite his desire to just not move for the rest of eternity, Sougo knew that thought was unreasonable. Silently, he let go of Kagura's hand and stood up. Kagura did the same, feeling a little colder now that Sougo's warmth had left. _It's hard to believe that the Sadist even_ has _any warmth._

But, before she could leave for home, Kagura shivered and sneeze loudly. She was definitely feeling a little under the weather, and there was no-one to blame but herself. Gintoki was definitely going to kill her. At the sound of her rather guttural sneeze, Sougo stopped and stared down at her shivering form. Before she had the chance to walk away, he pulled on the back of her soaked parka.

"My place is closer, wash and dry up there before you get sick."  
Kagura, in a state of shock, looked up carefully at Sougo. She blinked thrice at him.  
"What in the world are you doing?" she questioned, her eyebrows raised. In reply, Sougo turned from her, his eyes conflicted.  
"If I let you go home like this and you get sick, the Yorozuya boss will kill me. He'll probably send the entire Yorozuya over to decimate this handsome boy."  
 _I don't believe him for a second_. Nonetheless, she followed after him, her umbrella raised again despite it having little to no use. After all, she was not going to turn down a warm shower when she was freezing her butt off.

Sougo, on the other hand, was panicking under his cool mask. _Someone smack me. What am I doing? If Hijikata's home, he is definitely going to be mad._ He sighed. There was not much point in worrying, now. It was too late for that. He looked up at the stormy sky and glared.  
"I'll deal with it when the time comes," he mumbled quietly, hoping that the rain would cover up his voice and Kagura would not hear him.

During the short trek back to his apartment, Sougo watched out of the corner of his eye as Kagura's eyes dimmed the harder the rain came down on them. He briefly wondered if she hated the rain, but then figured that she probably would not have come out in the rain like this if that were the case. _It must be something else that's not any of my business, like that time when we were fighting the Kada gang._

Sougo continued walking for a bit more when his thoughts wandered back to Kagura. _Although, this also wasn't any of_ her _business…_ Shaking his head, his eyes glinting with a foreign determination, Sougo turned his head to face the girl walking beside him.  
"Oi," he stated.  
"Hm?" murmured Kagura, her eyes gazing dully at him.  
"I never got my answer," Sougo prodded. "Why did you stay today?"

Kagura could not give him a response right away. She hesitated. Images flickered across her eyes – her mother, her father, the rain, Sougo's sister. They overlapped and spiralled throughout her mind and, as the rain pelted down on her back, Kagura's vision began to blur with tears. Sougo watched silently as Kagura's inner turmoil stopped her in place. He also stood still for a moment, then continued walking. They were close to his apartment and it would probably better to quickly get out of the rain than stay where they were.

Sougo had walked two steps when he felt a tug on the back of his dress shirt. He did not look back, but stopped.  
"When I saw you… standing in front of your sister's grave… it really hurt," Kagura mumbled sadly, her voice almost swallowed by the sound of the rain on the pavement. Sougo blinked. "The pain of losing someone you care about, it hurts so much. But, to see you stand there without crying, that must have hurt so much more. Keeping everything bottled up."  
Sougo turned and walked back to Kagura.  
"'The pain of losing someone you care about'…?" he asked, tilting his head as he looked down at her trembling form, water dripping from his bangs. Kagura scrunched her face up and looked to her feet, signalling the end of their conversation.

Sighing, Sougo turned back and continued walking towards his apartment. It was getting late and he was sure that the Yorozuya boss would throw a fit if his precious daughter didn't come home on time.

* * *

When they arrived at Sougo's apartment, he quickly told Kagura to stay out of sight. Swiftly, Sougo unlocked the door to his apartment and opened it, scanning the shoes in the small foyer area. Sighing in relief at the absence of Hijikata's shoes, Sougo led Kagura inside and quickly grabbed two towels for the both of them. He told Kagura that it would be best for her to take a shower first and go home, and Kagura decided not to argue. She entered the bathroom while Sougo fished around for a plastic bag to put Kagura's wet clothes in as well as some of his old clothes for her to wear temporarily.

After he was successful in his search, Sougo knocked on the bathroom door, announcing to her that a change of clothes was right outside the door before seating himself on the ground outside the bathroom. He was still soaking wet, himself, and did not want to move around the house too much. Fifteen minutes later, he heard the shower turn off and he promptly turned his back to the door to allow Kagura some privacy as she grabbed the change of clothes. When Kagura opened the door, her breathing hitched a little at the sight of Sougo. Quickly, she grabbed his old shirt and pants and shut the door again.

Sighing, Sougo relaxed and allowed himself another small respite as the sound of thunder made its way to his ears. His eyes narrowed slightly. _It's really coming down, outside._ He reached for his phone and searched online for a weather report, flicking through websites until he landed on a live cast of a news report. Coincidentally, the news report was at its weather section.  
"Ketsuno Ana reporting! At the moment, Tokyo's weather isn't looking too good. This torrential rain is looking to continue throughout the night, and I don't recommend that anyone go out tonight. So, I'm sorry – if you had a date night planned, it'll be best to cancel it! How about you reschedule for tomorrow night? The weather's looking a lot better for tomorrow. That's all from me."  
At the conclusion of Ketsuno Ana's weather report, the news channel switched to a long spiel about the state of Tokyo's economy and Sougo – who had immediately grown bored – locked his phone and placed it on the floor beside him.

Though he appeared calm on the outside, Sougo's mind was racing. _Do I send China back in this rain…? Argh, I can hardly do that. But if I don't, the Yorozuya boss might end up calling a war to get back his 'kidnapped' daughter. Damn. Hijikata will have my head, too, for sheltering a Yorozuya.  
_ "Tu ru ru ru ru. Tu ru ru ru ru. Tu ru ru." Sougo's train of thought was interrupted, a strange song cutting through the drone of the rain. Feeling a prickling down his spine, he turned to find the source of the ominous sounding song. Eventually, his eyes landed on Kagura's phone which she had left on his kitchen table.

It had lit up and was ringing with the _Yonimo Kimyona Monogatari_ theme song, sung a capella courtesy of Kagura. Sougo's left eye twitched at the sound. Silently, he walked over to the kitchen table, his towel wrapped around him to prevent too much water from leaking onto the floor, and checked the caller ID. ' _Gin-chan'? Ah, the Yorozuya boss._ Hesitantly, he picked up the phone to hand it to Kagura. However, in trying to not get the phone wet, his fingers accidentally hit the accept call button. _Shit_.

"Kagura! Where on Earth are you?! It's late and – have you _seen_ the weather?! Why aren't you home, it's like a freaking hurricane out there!" Sougo recoiled from the phone, Gintoki's booming voice was way louder than he had ever heard it before. Slowly, he tried to explain himself.  
"Ah, Yorozuya boss. Um, China…" he paused. "No, I mean, Kagura's drying off right now. She was caught in the rain and was soaked through to the bone, so I let her borrow the shower. But then the rain got really bad, so I'm not sure how she's going to… get… home?"  
Sougo trailed off, a little worried about the lack of response that he was receiving from the other end.

Finally, after an excruciatingly long pause, Sougo heard a low rumble.  
"Who is this?" Gintoki bellowed into the phone, his voice dangerously low. Sougo gulped.  
"Okita Sougo," he nervously replied.  
"Shinsengumi?!" Gintoki sounded surprised. "What are you doing to my daughter?!"  
"Nothing, it was purely circumstantial. If you'd like, I can send her home right now."  
"There is no way in _hell_ I'm letting her go out in the rain right now." Gintoki took a deep breath, then continued. "Let her stay the night. You live with the mayo-freak, right? Put him on."  
"Uh, he doesn't know that she's here. He must have gone out and got caught in the rain. I don't think he'll be home tonight…" _And I'd rather he_ not _come home tonight to see this mess_.  
"Fine, if he finds out about this then I'll speak with him myself. For now, just let Kagura stay. Tell her not to bother you or your sister too much."

Sougo was quiet.  
"Sis passed yesterday," he said sadly, unclear as to why he was telling the boss of his rival gang something so personal. Gintoki was silent for a few seconds.  
"Was her funeral this morning?" he gruffly spoke into the phone.  
"That's right – due to her circumstances, we had been preparing for it for quite some time."  
"I think I get why Kagura is with you, now. You have my condolences – she was a kind soul."  
"You knew her?" Sougo asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.  
"In passing. She seemed about the only person who could make your boss happy, and that's saying something."  
"I see."  
"I'll leave Kagura with you, then." There was another pause. "Take care of her, she isn't too good with rain."

Gintoki hung up the phone, though Sougo was sure he could hear a dog yipping with worry in the background before Gintoki could cut the call.

* * *

When Kagura walked out of the bathroom, she was met by Sougo's hard pectoral muscles smacking her in the face. Blushing, she turned her head up and glared at him.  
"Oi, move-!" she began to yell at him.  
"Your boss told you to stay," Sougo spoke curtly. "He doesn't want you out in the rain."  
With that, he pushed past her and closed the bathroom door, locking it. Kagura, now clean and dry, narrowed her eyes at the closed bathroom door moved to the kitchen to grab her phone. After checking the call log, sure enough, she had received a call from Gintoki.

Sighing, Kagura got to work on trying to connect to Sougo's Wi-Fi. She made herself comfortable on the couch and laid down, her fingers tapping away at her phone. It wasn't too hard to find the Wi-Fi – the name "MayonnaiseIsLove" gave everything away. The problem was the password. Wracking her brain, something she usually didn't do, Kagura tried as many passwords as she could think of. "Mayonnaise" was rejected. "Sadism" and all its variants were also wrong. "Shinsengumi" was a no-go as well. She even tried "password", hoping that they had tried to reverse psychology people by using such an obvious password. But that, too, was incorrect. She was beginning to get a little fed up when she thought back to the entirety of the Shinsengumi, crowded around Okita Mitsuba's grave. Kagura's fingers slowly typed out her name into the password slot and clicked enter. _Connected._ Kagura gave a small smile. _You were very well-loved._

After a short while, Sougo left the bathroom and found Kagura curled up on the couch. His old shirt may have been too small for him, but it was still much too big for Kagura and she had needed to roll the sleeves up quite a lot. His pants hung loosely against her legs and he could see that she had needed to adjust the waist of the sweatpants to be four times smaller so that the pants would stay up. He quickly turned before any strange thoughts could enter his head.  
"I'll let you stay," Sougo called, heading off toward his bedroom. "But you need to make your own dinner. You hear?"  
Kagura gave him a lazy look. "Alright."

Ten minutes and three minor explosions in the kitchen later, Sougo had chased Kagura out of the kitchen and agreed to make dinner for both of them.  
"It's either that or the state of my well-being, I guess," he grumbled, sighing heavily. Kagura pouted and immediately began ordering him about.  
"Oi, Sadist!" she yelled childishly. "I want ochazuke! And sukonbu!"  
"Ah? I'm making fried rice," Sougo shot back. "Haven't you heard that beggars can't be choosers?"  
"Hmph, I'm no beggar. I'm a guest. Haven't you heard that you should be kind to your guests?"  
"All I see is a piggy."

Kagura fumed. Taking advantage of her athleticism, Kagura jumped from behind Sougo and landed on his shoulders, crossing her legs around his neck with her hands over his eyes.  
"Ochazuke! Sukonbu!" she shouted once again, her pitch raised to an even higher tone. Sougo, surprised at the action, did not have enough time to react and his balance was put off. He began falling backwards and Kagura, sensing imminent doom, abandoned ship.  
"Whoops," she said, landing to the side as Sougo landed on the ground in the kitchen. "Well, let's make a compromise. Just ochazuke, and no sukonbu, okay? I'll be in the dining room!"  
Sougo could only groan, flopping back onto the ground, not wanting to move.

* * *

Patting her engorged belly, Kagura gave a sigh of content.  
"Man, for a sadist you sure are a good cook," she announced with glee.  
"It was tea on rice," Sougo said, his temple throbbing in irritation.  
"Ochazuke."  
"Which is tea on rice."  
"Which is good. Though the extra toppings on top were pretty good, too." Knowing that he would not be able to get through to Kagura, Sougo leaned back in his chair and watched as Kagura flicked through her phone.  
"For a girl, you sure don't look worried at all that you'll be spending the night alone with a single, very good-looking male specimen," he spoke with no hint of real concern in his voice, his half-lidded eyes staring at her with contempt.  
"Where? I don't see one," mocked Kagura, her eyes scanning the room to add to her insult.  
"Ah, my bad. You're not a girl. You're just Miss Piggy."  
"Hmph!" Kagura growled at him, standing up from her seat and moving towards the living room.

Sougo sighed and left the table to do the dishes. When he got to the kitchen, he heard the sound of the rain intensify. Quietly, he thought to himself that they should probably go to bed soon as it was getting rather late. The rain was going to let up tomorrow and Hijikata would come home. It was probably better for him to not know about Kagura's visit to their domicile. The earlier they could wake up, the sooner she could leave.

Finishing up the dishes, Sougo left the kitchen to tell Kagura to get an early night in when he saw that the couch in the living room was empty. He quickly scanned the room to find Kagura seated by the window, her eyes staring out into the distance. Sougo walked up to her quietly so as to not disturb her and followed her gaze. There was nothing discernibly interesting about the scenery. He turned back to Kagura and found her fidgeting, her eyebrows knit together and her mind obviously very far off.

Sougo thought back to what the Yorozuya boss had mentioned to him, about Kagura's distaste for rain. _But why?_ He couldn't believe that Kagura hated the rain arbitrarily – that was no reason for her to act like this. Silently, he sat next to her. As he knelt down beside her, he could feel her shift at their close proximity. _Was that an uncomfortable shift? Or an I'm-making-room-for-you-please-sit shift?_ After waiting a few moments, he began speaking to test the waters.

"Sis'… was a good person."  
Kagura's body tensed.  
"I'm sure you know, since you've met her," Sougo said. "You know how much everyone in the Shinsengumi loved her, especially us, seeing as you managed to get into our Wi-Fi. I thought of her as a mother. I didn't have one, growing up. My parents both died when I was very young – too young to be sad at their deaths. That's why, sis' doted on me. She took care of me, she's the reason why I'm alive today."  
Sougo paused to look at Kagura.  
"I'm not going to thank you for what you did today," he continued, turning his head from Kagura for a quick moment. "But… I'm sure my sister would want to thank you. Thinking properly, I'm sure my sister would not want me to bottle my emotions up inside. That's why, for my sister, I wanted to thank you."

Kagura looked up at Sougo, a little surprised to see sincerity in his eyes. His face was calm and cold, as it usually was. But his eyes, still a little red from having cried for so long, held in them a gratitude that burnt at Kagura's gaze. Gratitude, and something else that Kagura was not sure of. Her heart pounded as Sougo spoke again.  
"I'm not saying I'll comfort you, but I do know how to pay back my debts."  
Turning her gaze from Sougo, Kagura stared back out the window and paused before whispering her next words.  
"I miss them."  
"Hm?"  
"Mami… Papi…," Kagura wheezed out their names. "On days like this, I miss them."  
Sougo quietly turned from her, his eyes resting on the rain outside.  
"I don't like… death. My mami and papi were good people, but death still took them away. Days like this only remind me of the rainy nights when they left this world."

Sougo closed his eyes.  
"So, my sister…" he started.  
"She's beautiful. A beautiful, kind woman. My mother, too, was a beautiful, kind woman. And yet, they both fell ill. And, all too suddenly, they both passed. It's so… unfair."  
A pause – then, Sougo continued.  
"And that night, with the Kada gang…"  
"I was scared," she answered before Sougo had the time to ask the question she knew would come. He opened his eyes.  
"Scared?"  
"My papi, one night, when we were sleeping… a robber broke into our house. He was armed… with a knife."  
Sougo remembered the knife that the Kada gang member was wielding that night and he understood.  
"Papi tried to protect me and covered me with his body. And then, there was so much blood. And…!"

A brush of fabric against her cheek caused Kagura to stop. She looked up at Sougo, who was using the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away at Kagura's tears. Sometime during her story, Kagura had begun to cry.  
"Ah? Oh, sorry."  
Sougo turned towards the window. "No. It's fine."  
Kagura silently thanked him for turning as she began to cry. The events of the last couple of days, especially concerning Okita Mitsuba, had brought up the memories of her parents' death which she had always been trying to keep out of mind. She sobbed, the images of her mother's life fading from her face and the blood covering her father's back all too much for her to handle.

After a period of time, Kagura felt a Sougo's hand gently press her head against his shoulder. She continued to cry.  
"What happened to not comforting me?" she managed to choke out. But Sougo was silent. Kagura's sobs began to lessen, the scent of Sougo's cologne and the feel of his palm on her head relaxing her. The strain of crying for so long eventually tired her out and she fell asleep against him, her cheeks streaked with tears.

Silently, Sougo picked her up and laid her on his bed. His hand reached out to undo her hair, and he smiled sadly as she called out in her sleep.  
"Mami… Papi…"  
Letting his hand linger for a little too long, Sougo left his room and moved to sleep in Hijikata's room. He never heard Kagura whisper his name, coupled with a small "thank you".

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Yeah, we're about half-way through, now! If you've stuck with me for this long, thanks so much! Also, yeah – this chapter is a teensy bit longer than usual. It's actually three chapters all put together – I thought they'd flow better this way._


	14. Chapter 13

**Street War – Chapter 13**

When the morning came, Sougo was not-so-gently awoken by the obnoxious ringing of his alarm. Sluggishly, he crawled out of bed and stretched, his body desperately telling him that he should back into bed. _I wonder if five more minutes will be okay._ However, before he had the chance to comply with his sleepy wishes, Sougo jolted awake at the realisation that he was not in his room.

 _Mayonnaise posters, mayonnaise figurines… Yeah, definitely not my room._ Slowly, the memories of last night flowed back into Sougo's mind and he hastily rushed out of Hijikata's bedroom to check the entranceway foyer. Upon finding no sign of Hijikata's shoes in the small area, Sougo breathed out a sigh of relief and wasted no time in walking back to his own room where he had left Kagura for the night. _His shoes aren't here – we've still got some time._

However, Sougo failed to notice that Kagura's shoes were not in the foyer area, either.

Knocking harshly and loudly on his bedroom door, Sougo called out to Kagura – who he assumed was still sleeping.  
"Oi!" he yelled. "Little Miss Piggy, wake up! I'm not getting my ass kicked by Hijikata-san just because you're a lazy-ass and don't want to wake up."  
When he received no reply, Sougo gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to kick the door down. _It's my door, after all_ , he reasoned. Slowly, he pushed on the handle and opened the door, allowing ample time for Kagura to yell back at him in the case that she was in any state of indecency.

"Wake the hell up-!" he began to yell at her again, but was stopped by the emptiness of the room. _She's not here?_ Carefully, he scanned his eyes across his room to check for any sign of her presence. His bed had been slept in, but there was no longer anyone in it. In addition, the plastic bag filled with Kagura's soaked clothes had also disappeared from its spot on his desk, replaced with a small scrap of paper. Plastered on the crumpled sheet of paper was a message written in Kagura's illegible chicken scratch.

" _I'm not really sure what to do with your clothes, so I'll probably just burn them. You don't need them anyways, right? Oh, and bring me ochazuke for lunch today."_ Sougo scrunched up the piece of paper and deftly threw it into the bin beside his desk. He did not particularly mind that he would not be getting his clothes back – they did not fit him, either way. _But, the ochazuke? To hell with that._ He was irritated, he knew. And, this time, he could not deny that his irritation stemmed from the fact that he had worked himself up about seeing Kagura in the morning, yet she had disappeared without so much as a glance in his direction.

* * *

When Kagura arrived home at the early hour of six in the morning, Gintoki was far too tired to scold her. He hugged her tight the moment she walked through the apartment door, having waited for her in the hallway by the entranceway foyer all night. As he squeezed his daughter, he mumbled a tired "everyone was worried" and received a quiet "I'm sorry" in return. His tense muscles relaxed as she pulled away from him and, after giving her a once over and noticing her unfamiliar outfit, he told her to quickly go and change.

As Kagura walked past her tired father, she was ambushed by Sadaharu who jumped onto her and pushed her to the ground. After a good laugh, she fervently ruffled Sadaharu's fur as the gigantic Samoyed yipped in glee at her return. The past night, when Kagura had stayed over at Sougo's, Sadaharu had slept on his own for the first time in a long time. Though both Gintoki and Kamui had offered to open their rooms for him, the stubborn puppy had waited by himself in Kagura's room, buried underneath her blanket. Gintoki watched with weary eyes as Sadaharu excitedly licked Kagura's face, jumping for her attention as she tried to stand and walk back to her room. _If Sadaharu were Kagura's little brother… He'd be the type to have a sister-complex? How difficult._

After Kagura had managed to free herself from Sadaharu's clutches, she ran back to her room – dropping off her wet clothes in the laundry room on the way. After locating her school uniform, Kagura threw off Sougo's overly large clothes and chucked them into the corner of her room. _I'll deal with that mess later_. However, after she had removed the clothing from her body, Kagura felt a strange sense of coldness overwhelm her. Shivering slightly, she decided that it was probably just the weather as she threw on her uniform and grabbed a sweater from her closet to throw on top of her school shirt.

By the time she had finished changing, Kamui had woken up as a result of the morning commotion and captured his sister as she was leaving her bedroom. In a display of brotherly affection, he lifted Kagura up and piggybacked her into the dining room. However, it was his decision to make aeroplane noises that made Kagura giggle.  
"I'm not a child, idiot big brother," Kagura whined, trying to give her brother a stern expression through her mirthful laughter. Kamui smiled at her as he set her down at the dining table.  
"You'll always be my baby sister. Even _I_ can get worried about you, sometimes."

At that moment, Gintoki entered the dining room, ruffling his children's hair, and announced that he would be making breakfast. At the word 'breakfast', both Kagura and Kamui perked up, their eyes glimmering as drool threatened to escape from their lips.  
"Yes, yes, you animals," Gintoki sighed, grabbing an apron that had been hooked onto one of the cupboard handles. "Have you packed your school bag, Kagura? Hurry and get ready. And you, Kamui – get ready for work. There're some requests in for today."  
"Okay," the two teenagers chorused, dragging out the last syllable as long as it would go.  
"And Kagura?"  
"Hm?" she replied, her foot halfway out the dining room to find her school bag.  
"I'll need to have a word with you when you come home today. It's nothing big, just the usual parenting stuff that I should do every so often."  
"Alright." Kagura was a little worried about what Gintoki needed to day, but she was sure that it wasn't anything big if Gintoki could still make jokes about it.

* * *

Since Kagura had woken up so early, she also managed to get to school on time without having to run to make the bell. _This is nice, I should wake up early more often._ After thinking on it for a bit, though, Kagura immediately retracted her statement. _Actually, no. Sleep is really nice._ She walked into class and saw Soyo already there, setting her pencil case and water bottle onto her desk. Soyo's face brightened when she saw Kagura.

"Kagura-chan! Some storm last night, huh? It was seriously coming down!" Soyo exclaimed, her face making an animated expression. Kagura nodded, shaking away wayward thoughts about a certain sadistic third-year.  
"Oh, by the way – what did Hisashi-san think about the photos?" asked Soyo, her eyebrows raised in curiosity.  
"That's right – the photos!" After that, Kagura spent most of the time before morning homeroom telling Soyo about Hongou's appreciation of their photos. She detailed how excited he was about seeing something that wasn't the boring hospital environment, and duly noted that they should take beach photos for him when summer came around. Soyo listened, thrilled that her friend was showing at least some interest in a member of the male population.

"Hey, Kagura," started Soyo.  
"Yeah?"  
"Could it be that you've got a crush on this Hisashi Hongou?" she speculated, leaning in close to her friend. Kagura blinked.  
"Eh? 'Crush'? Why would I want to crush him? He's sick!" Thoroughly confused as to what Soyo was talking about, Kagura spoke loudly and recoiled in her seat.  
"Hm? No, no! Kagura-chan, don't you know what a crush is?"  
"Uh, when you take something and you put a lot of force on it, so it breaks?"  
"No, no!" Soyo exclaimed, waving her hands lightly in front of Kagura. "Kagura-chan, could it be that you've never liked someone before?"  
"Hm? I like lots of people. Gin-chan, Kamui when he's not being stupid, Sadaharu, Shinpachi and his big sister Tae, Tsukuyo… Oh, and you of course, Soyo-chan!" Kagura announced, opening her arms in jubilant glee.

Soyo giggled.  
"Why, thank you Kagura-chan. I like you a lot, too! But that's not what I mean. Have you ever liked someone in a romantic sense?"  
"Ro-man-tic?" Kagura tested the word on her tongue. "Can't say I have."  
Soyo looked surprised, then her gentle smile returned.  
"Well, I guess you'll fall in love when you meet the right person." Kagura looked even more confused.  
"How will I know who the right person is?" she asked tentatively.  
"Hm," Soyo murmured as she stroked her non-existent beard. "It's different for every person. Usually, though, your heart will beat really quickly and you might feel something a little like indigestion. For me, there was this time that I met this prince from another country, and-"  
"Wait, isn't that the feeling of being sick?"

Kagura looked on in confusion as Soyo smiled again.  
"Sometimes, it might feel like you're sick when you're with that person," Soyo explained patiently. "But, when you're apart from them, it'll feel worse than being sick. Maybe you should see if you feel that way about this Hisashi Hongou guy, Kagura."  
Kagura gave Soyo a look as if she was crazy, but was forced to return to her seat when the bell for homeroom went and their teacher entered the classroom.

* * *

At the sound of the end-of-school bell, Kagura bid farewell to Soyo at the shoe lockers and walked once more to the hospital. She knew that Gintoki had something to say to her, but she also knew from his conversation that morning that he would be busy with work for a while. Thus, she decided that she would pass the time with Hongou until Gintoki forced her to go home.

Upon entering Hongou's room, Kagura quietly noticed that there were less machines around in comparison to the last time that she was there. She also noticed that the room was much more colourful than before and, as she walked closer to Hongou's bed, she found him crafting origami cranes as he used his thick book as a workspace.  
"Wow, Hisashi-kun!" she exclaimed, looking around the room in wonder. "These look amazing! You must have, like, a million here."

Hongou chuckled gently at her childish glee.  
"Actually," he began, setting down the crane that he was currently working on as he beamed proudly at Kagura. "I've almost gotten a thousand of them. There's a legend that, if you can make a thousand of these paper cranes, then you'll be granted a single wish."  
Kagura's eyes widened.  
"Really?" she said loudly. "Then, you can wish to get better real quick so we can kick Shinsengumi butt?"

"Well, I'm not going to wish to get better," Hongou stated, a smile adorned on his face. "I want to be able to get better on my own. What I wish for…"  
He paused, glancing at Kagura as he gave her a small smile.  
"… Well, that's a secret," he whispered, placing a finger to his lips before a sound by the door made him look up. "Hm?"  
Kagura turned at Hongou's confusion, swivelling in her chair so that her line of sight now included the door. However, the unexpected visitor made her swallow in nervousness.

Sougo, a tired look in his eyes and a plastic bag in hand, walked from his position by the doorway over to Hongou's bed.  
"Yo, Hongou," he called out. "I was out and saw that a new book from that series you like came out. Here."  
He moved to pass the plastic bag to his friend in bed when his eyes focused onto Kagura.  
"Hm? China's here," he stated, as if only just noticing that she was there. Kagura scrunched up her nose at him.  
"You look awful," she stated curtly.  
"Not as awful as you." At his blunt statement, Kagura made to attack him while Hongou gently held her back, chuckling at the affair.

Sougo watched as Hongou's arms locked around Kagura's own, preventing her from attacking the Shinsengumi member. His eyes twitched.  
"I just stopped by to drop these off. I'm leaving." Hongou looked up.  
"Ah, Okita-san!"  
"Hm?" Sougo stopped, turning back to address Hongou's outburst.  
"Thanks for the books!" he exclaimed. "And, uh, could you take Kagura home as well? I'm a little worried about her walking home on her own."  
"Ah? I'm fine to take care of myself," Kagura interjected, looking incredulously at Hongou. "I don't need this Shinsengumi rat babysitting me."  
"I won't agree with her on the whole 'rat' thing," Sougo spoke up. "But I _do_ agree that I don't wanna be walking her home."  
Hongou smiled sadly. "Is that so?"

Suddenly, Kagura's phone buzzed. She took a look at the message. _Sender: Gin-chan. Subject: Get your butt home. Content: Get your butt home, I'm not having a repeat of yesterday._ Kagura closed her phone and sighed.  
"Gin-chan wants me home," she announced, picking up her school bag from the ground. "See ya, Hisashi-kun!  
She stuck her tongue out at Sougo, then swiftly left the room. As Sougo watched her race past, he was tempted to tell her not to run in the hospital, but a nurse beat him to it. His eyes softened as Kagura dodged nurses and patients alike on her stubborn power walk through the halls.

After Kagura had left, Hongou looked up at Sougo, a nervous energy filling him.  
"Um, I heard… about Mitsuba-san," he quietly stated as Sougo's eyes widened. "I'm really sorry about your loss. If only this world had no sickness in it, maybe people could be happy."  
Sougo sighed. "There's no point being sorry, it wasn't your fault."  
Hongou was quiet. "I'm glad, though. That you seem happy."  
Sougo raised an eyebrow. "Happy?"  
"Yeah. It's Kagura-chan, isn't it?" stated Hongou, though it came out as more of a question. "You always seem to be a little happier when she's around."  
Sougo looked incredulous. "You're joking."  
"No, really! And don't even try to deny it; I've known you for long enough to know what your happy face and pissed off face look like."

With his eyebrows knit together, Sougo made a face and turned away.  
"Well, it's okay you don't need to worry about me."  
Hongou tilted his head in confusion. "Why?"  
Sougo turned to Hongou. "Don't _you_ like that China girl? It's okay – even if all that nonsense about her making me happy were true, I don't like her or anything."  
Hongou blinked in surprise.  
"But, Okita-san…"  
"Yes?"

"I don't have a crush on Kagura-chan."

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _You see, Okita-kun? No need to be so peanut butter and jelly-!_

 _Ahah, I hope none of you were too surprised by this. I did my best to make it obvious that Hongou didn't like Kagura, but I'm no good at things like this so I'm not quite sure what you guys thought might happen._

 _Hmm, it's autumn transitioning into winter here in Australia, and sitting here with my scented candle and a nice cup of high quality tea that my friend bought me… Wrapped in a blanket… While it's raining outside… Well, it's a really good mood for writing a story, is all I'm saying! ^^_

 _I hope there's pleasant weather where you guys are at, too!_


	15. Chapter 14

**Street War – Chapter 14**

Sougo stood in the middle of Hongou's hospital room, eyes wide and head racing. _He doesn't like China?  
_ "You… Huh? What?" the older boy stuttered, not quite sure of what he had just heard.  
"I really respect her," Hongou stated, smiling gently as he turned to look out his window. "She's so much stronger than I could ever be and I really wish that I could quickly become strong, just like she is. Even though she's a year younger than me, she manages to hold her own against bullies and she can even fight against you in those street wars between the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi."

Before Hongou could continue any further, Sougo decided to interject.  
"But… the hoodie string?" he questioned, his voice getting louder and more and more high-pitched as he spoke. "And the paper cranes? And the _blushing_?"  
Hongoue chuckled.  
"Ah, well, I can't forget the sight I saw when Kagura-chan first helped me out with those bullies. I hold onto this as a memento of that, though," Hongou looked down at the fabric, a little upset. "It _is_ starting to get super frayed, though."  
Sougo looked at the string, and he could only agree. It had reduced to mostly a ball of tangled thread and fluff, with only a small portion of the string still intact.

"And the wish with the paper cranes… I was going to wish-"  
"For China girl to like you?" Sougo guessed. However, his words prompted Hongou to almost double over with laughter.  
"No!" he exclaimed through his chuckles. "I wanted to lose this weak personality of mine. I wanted to become a little more like Kagura-chan."  
"Please don't become like that China gorilla," Sougo immediately stated.

"As for the blushing… Well," Hongou pouted. "Wouldn't _you_ at least blush a little, too? She's pretty cute, y'know."  
Sougo momentarily thought back to Kagura's sleeping face as she laid in his bed, he hair haloed around her. He shook away the image, a little flustered. _I am most certainly_ not _into little piggies who are two years younger than me._ Hongou watched as Sougo battled with his inner turmoil.  
" _Gee_ , Okita-san," he teased. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're jealous."  
"J-jealous?!" Sougo stuttered. "Hah, _that's_ a laugh."

Sougo made for the door, ruffling the hair at the nape of his neck in nervousness.  
"If you hurry, I reckon you'd be able to catch up to her!" Hongou called out, his voice purposefully contained a little sing-song tone. Sougo twitched.  
"I don't need to catch up to nobody!" With that, he left Hongou's room as the younger boy watched in amusement.

* * *

When Sougo had escaped the hospital, he breathed in a breath of fresh air and sighed. He was fond of Hongou, he really was, but he did not like the feeling of being played by the boy. _Though, I'm surprised that he isn't into China. Guess I'm not too good at reading these things._ Sougo sighed and started to walk in the direction of his apartment when he saw a blob of red-orange hair in the distance.

Hongou's words made their way back into his head.  
 _"If you hurry, I reckon you'd be able to catch up to her!"_ But Sougo hesitated. He should not be going through with Hongou's suggestion, and he knew that. If a Shinsengumi or Yorozuya member caught them, there would be way too much confusion to deal with. Plus, there was no reason for him to do it. Kagura was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. As Sougo spent more time deliberating, Kagura continued to walk further from the hospital. In the end, he convinced himself not to go. Instead, he went home to sleep off the weird sick feeling in his stomach that only seemed to arise whenever Kagura was around.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kagura had arrived home to find Gintoki cooking dinner.  
"I see my little girl has come back." He left dinner for a moment to ruffle Kagura's hair as she took her shoes off in the foyer. "Kamui's crashing at Takasugi's place tonight. There was some heavy-lifting work that needed finishing and the two of them are handling it."  
Walking back into the kitchen to fix dinner, Gintoki shooed Kagura off to get changed. _I guess he'll tell me whatever it is he needs to tell me over dinner._

Sure enough, after Kagura had slipped into some more comfortable clothes, Gintoki gestured for his daughter to be seated at the table. He had made curry tonight, and the smell of the curry had definitely stirred Kagura's appetite.  
"Thanks for the food-!"  
"Wait a second, young lady," Gintoki commanded, halting Kagura's attack on her dinner plate.  
"Hm?" Kagura asked, a little unnerved by Gintoki's serious gaze. "Um, is there something wrong?"

"Well, I'm sure you're old enough to know about the sorts of things I'm about to ask you about," Gintoki began. "But it's still a little awkward. This really isn't a father's place to lecture his daughter…"  
"Then marry Tsukky and get her to do it," Kagura stated, giving her surrogate father a serious look. Gintoki's face coloured slightly.  
"Don't get funny with me," he grumbled. "Listen, last night when you were at the Shinsengumi's place, he didn't do anything… _strange_ to you, did he?"  
" _Strange_?"  
"Like, _indecent_ strange."  
" _Indecent_ strange?" Kagura repeated again.

Gintoki stared holes into his daughter's forehead, desperately wishing for her brain to understand what he was talking about. Kagura furrowed her brow in concentration. Then, a lightbulb went off in her head.  
"Ah! Indecent as in, like, those video tapes that you hide under your bed and watch late at night?" she announced, triumphantly pointing her index finger in the air.  
"Yes, exactly like- wait, _what_?!"  
"Don't worry, Gin-chan," Kagura waved her father off, grabbing her chopsticks. "Nothing like that happened."  
"Huh?" Gintoki asked, his brow beginning to sweat profusely. "Wait, _Kagura-chan_ , how do you know about-?"  
"Thanks for the food!"

And without any further discussion, Kagura began attacking her curry like a voracious beast. Sighing, Gintoki picked up his chopsticks and also began to eat his portion of curry, albeit at a slower pace. _I really need to find a better hiding place for those things. I'm almost sure that Kamui's stolen a couple of them, too! Ah, that boy._

When dinner finished, Kagura moved into the kitchen to do the dishes while Gintoki turned on the television, aimlessly flicking through channels.  
"Ketsuno Ana isn't doing the weather today," he announced, lying like a potato on their couch. "What a shame."  
Kagura hummed.  
"You _know_ that Tsukky will get mad if she heard you say that," Kagura stated bluntly. "Ah, unless that's what you're hoping for?"  
"Oi, kid. I did not give birth to you for you to become my love counsellor. Since when did _you_ get so privy into my love life, ah?"  
"You mean your imaginary one?"  
"Funny. Listen, Tsukuyo and I don't have a thing going. And what about _you_ – what's going on with that Shinsengumi brat?"

Kagura almost dropped a plate.  
"Nothing is! Besides him being annoying, that is." It was Gintoki's turn to hum and he drawled it out for as long as possible.  
"It's true!" she yelled. "And I can't have something going between me and my rival. We're meant to fight each other, and not anything else!"  
As she spoke, Kagura could feel her heart race with a strange feeling. Ever since Soyo had brought up that whole thing concerning 'crushes', Kagura had been unable to get Sougo's face off her mind. Gintoki smirked at his daughter. He could practically hear the cogs in her mind turning despite being in a different room.  
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."  
"Shut up, you don't even read Shakespeare!"

After a moment of respite, Gintoki spoke to his daughter again. This time, though, his tone was a bit more serious.  
"Live your life the way you want, Kagura," he said, turning off the television and walking down the hall to pop his head into the kitchen. "But _do_ be careful of those Shinsengumi. The Yorozuya are as laidback as they come, so no-one will blame you for feeling the way you do. The Shinsengumi, on the other hand… Well, that mayo-freak has been as stubborn as a mule since I first met him. The Shinsengumi are really set on upholding their gang rules – to hate us. I don't really mind the whole rivalry thing, so I play along. Their gang, though – I don't know how seriously they take it, but I suggest you watch yourself. Don't get too involved with that brat unless you can handle the backlash."  
Kagura paused, a spoon in hand.  
"Who said that I'm involved with anyone…?" she mumbled, vigorously rinsing and drying the spoon so as to take her mind off her father's words. Gintoki smiled. _No-one said that you're involved. But things happen, my idiot daughter._

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Whoopie, yeah! Another chapter is done! I believe we're just about two-thirds through the story, now! I also really like Dadtoki – seeing father-daughter Gintoki and Kagura makes me so happy. Bonus if Dadtoki is a clumsy idiot who doesn't actually know how to be a dad and just makes it up as he goes. You feel?_

 _Hmm, but… Next chapter… Well, I usually have a plan for how my chapters are gonna go, but the next chapter kind of has no real plan. I just kind of have it set out. Well, let's see how it goes! xD Apologies in advance if next chapter has super bad flow._

 _Also, dear guest_ _ **Loginder**_ _who left me a review in my last chapter – I'm so sorry, but my chapters have already been written! That's why I can't do much about Tsukky's role in this story. (´•ω•̥`) Well, she has a pretty small role so hopefully it won't bother you too much._


	16. Chapter 15

**Street War – Chapter 15**

Sougo was conflicted. It had been a few days since he had last spoken with Kagura in Hongou's hospital room, and he had only seen glimpses of her at school since then. However, each time he saw her, his desire to obliterate her at their next street fight slowly dissipated. Gradually, his thoughts of hatred began to be replaced with other feelings.

 _She styled her hair differently, today._

 _Is she going to visit Hongou? She rushed off pretty quick after school._

 _Those pictures she just took must be pretty good – she looks happy._

There was no doubt that Sougo had _some_ form of non-hostile feelings for Kagura. He may have been in denial, but he was not dumb. He knew that his feelings toward her had changed from the time that he had first met her. However, he also realised that his fellow Shinsengumi members would not take too kindly to these strange feelings that he could feel rise up in his belly every time he caught a glimpse of her vermillion hair and stupid grin. Thus, he had been trying to supress the heat that rose to his cheeks at the mere mention of her name.

 _But, dammit, this is too much_. Sougo mentally berated himself for acting like the school girls that would often show up in his older sister's manga. He had his own pride, too – he did not want to allow himself to bow his head down to Kagura just because he thought she was a little cute. _I need to get some advice_ , he thought to himself. _But from who?_ Sitting up from his bed, Sougo stared wearily at his closed door as Hijikata's face came to mind.  
 _"Oh, hey Hijikata-san! You know that girl in the Yorozuya? The one who's the boss' daughter? I think I might not hate her, what do you suggest?"_ Sougo played the conversation in his mind, and the longer it went the more stupid he felt. _Yeah, that'll go down_ so _well._

However, before Sougo's thoughts could run any wilder, he heard a ring from their doorbell. Slowly, he stood up from his bed and walked out of his room, turning off the light behind him. He peered down the hallway at the front door to find that Hijikata had already answered the door.  
"Oh, Shimaru," Hijikata stated, a hint of surprise in his voice. "What's up?"  
Saitou said nothing, only pointing silently towards the general area of the kitchen and dining area. However, Hijikata seemed to understand what he was saying.  
"You wanna eat dinner here?" he asked, receiving a nod in affirmation. "Sure, head on inside-"

But before Hijikata could even finish welcoming Saitou into their household, Sougo had dashed past him and grabbed Saitou by the arm. The brunet quickly knocked Saitou's shoes off and dragged him down the hallway and into his room, slamming the door behind him. With an incredulous look on his face, Hijikata mindlessly dropped the cigarette in his hand onto the ground where it fell directly on top of his bare foot. With a yelp, the Shinsengumi leader jumped a metre into the air before grabbing a slipper to beat out the burning smoke. _What's gotten into Sougo?_

* * *

Having successfully kidnapped the older Shinsengumi member, Sougo piled a few of his cushions on the carpet and gently shoved Saitou onto the makeshift seat. He kneeled seiza-style in front of the silent man, his eyebrows furrowed in intense concentration.  
"Shimaru-niisan, I desperately need your help," Sougo announced, a drop of sweat running down the side of his face and dripping from his chin.

Saitou blinked, a little surprised. In truth, Saitou – despite being in the same grade as Sougo – was actually two years older than Sougo was. Due to his narcolepsy and inability to stay awake in class and during exams, he had been forced to repeat a couple of grades and had ended up never graduating from high school. At first, he had been a little embarrassed that he was so much older than the rest of the third-years. It was at that point that Sougo had stopped calling him 'Shimaru-niisan' and opted to call him only by his first name, to remove the influence of the age difference.

It had been so long since Sougo had called Saitou by his affectionate nickname that the older boy knew that something must have been seriously wrong. With a nod of his head, Saitou leaned back against the cushions and reached to grab Sougo's pillow from his bed, lightly tossing it at the younger boy. Firmly, Sougo latched his arms around the pillow and he squeezed it tightly in his arms, leaning his chin onto the comforting material.

"Shimaru-niisan, do you remember that boisterously annoying Yorozuya girl?" Sougo asked, turning slightly away from Saitou. After a quick think, Saitou gestured at his head and formed two bun-like shapes using his hands on either side.  
"Yeah, that's the one," Sougo confirmed. "Um, well, what if I told you that I don't think she's as boisterously annoying as I used to?"  
Saitou was thoughtfully silent. _I didn't think the day would come where he came to me for this kind of advice…_

Shifting so that he was shoulder-to-shoulder with Sougo, Saitou grabbed one of the smaller cushions at his side and placed it on the younger boy's head. With a heavy motion, he forced the cushion down a little bit so that Sougo's head was comfortably covered by the soft cushion.  
"What's this…? Are you trying to cheer me up, Shimaru-niisan?" Sougo chuckled, grasping onto the sides of the cushion and pulling it down further on his face. "It _does_ feel pretty comfy."  
After a moment, Saitou briefly lifted the cushion for a slight second and gestured with his pinky finger out towards Sougo.  
"'Are we dating?'" mumbled Sougo. "Is that what you're trying to ask?"  
Saitou nodded his head.

Sighing, Sougo pulled down on the pillow again.  
"That's disgusting, absolutely not," he grumbled, his voice a tad bit muffled by the fabric. "I don't _like_ her. I just _don't hate_ her."  
At Sougo's comment, Saitou closed his eyes in calm frustration. _He's almost as much of a child as the Yorozuya's daughter is._ He swivelled in place, facing the boy he considered his younger brother, and stole the pillow from Sougo. Swiftly, he dug into his pocket and held up his phone, switching it to camera mode.

When the screen flashed on, Sougo looked down at his own image on the screem and narrowed his eyes in frustration.  
"I can see why you don't believe me," Sougo sighed, scrutinising his glaringly red cheeks on Saitou's phone screen. Satisfied, Saitou locked his phone and returned Sougo's cushion to him so that he could hide his face once more. For good measure, the older boy decidedly pulled down Sougo's blanket as well and draped it over the brunet.

After a few moments of silence, Sougo spoke up again.  
"You're not angry?" he quietly and hesitantly asked. "That I, uh, don't dislike a Yorozuya."  
Saitou rolled his eyes at Sougo's wording, but nonetheless looked back down at the boy to pat him on the shoulder. He shook his head.  
"O-okay," Sougo grunted. "I'm good now, Shimaru-niisan. Go and get dinner."

With that, Sougo cocooned himself within the blanket. Blinking a couple of times, Saitou smiled behind his black mask and grabbed the pile of pillows on his right side, dropping the lot unceremoniously on top of Sougo. Due to the impact, Sougo was forced to look out from under his protective blanket barrier. Once he had gotten Sougo's attention, Saitou gestured to his left arm. _Is it better?  
_ "Hm?" Sougo asked. "My arm? Yeah, it's fine. I can move it again, no problem."  
Then, Saitou pointed to his forehead. _How about here?  
_ "Yeah, that's all good too. Barely can even see the scar."  
Satisfied, Saitou stood up and walked out of Sougo's room, shutting the door behind him to allow the younger boy some privacy.

Sougo blinked a couple of times from underneath the covers to make sure that Saitou had left – and that it was not all a weird dream – before half-unwrapping himself from the mess of blanket and pillows. _He's a really good guy, though I'm not sure I picked the best person to talk to_ , he thought, noting that he was the only one who did any talking during the last fifteen minutes. _But…_ Sougo gulped. Though he was still mostly unsure about the situation and how he was going to deal with it, there was one thing that he now knew for certain. _I maybe probably have a crush on China girl_. And it made him sick.

* * *

The next day, Kagura showed up to the hospital to visit Hongou once again. Without taking too much care, she threw open Hongou's door and loudly announced her arrival.  
"Yo, Hisashi-kun!" she exclaimed. "I've brought more pictures fer ya to look over!"  
Excitedly, she ran over to the hospital bed as Hongou greeted her in return. Without pausing, she threw open her bag and lifted out a bundle of photographs.

"Soyo-chan got these developed the other day," Kagura stated, impatiently untying the string that was holding the bundle of photos together. "I don't know who she's paying to do it, but hers always end up looking much nicer than if I were to get one of the chain stores to develop it."  
"Is that so?" Hongou wondered aloud, a part of him was a little intrigued. When the pictures had been unbound, Hongou gently took them from Kagura and began to flip through them. He was never quite sure how the two girls managed to almost always take photos that were never identical to another. Each time Kagura came around, there was always something new to look forward to.

However, after a few minutes of admiring, Hongou began to notice something a little peculiar about the photos.  
"Hey, Kagura-chan?" Hongou asked.  
"Yeah?"  
"Okita-san seems to be in the background of a lot of these photos…"  
"Huh?" Kagura exclaimed, her cheeks pinkening. "What are you talking about?"

Quietly, Hongou set out the images in a grid-like fashion on his bedsheets, pointing out every photo in which Sougo was present. Whether it was an up-close, action shot of Sougo or one where he was only in the background, Hongou found it rather telling that Sougo was in the vast majority of the photos. Kagura, however, denied any deep meaning behind it.  
"It's probably Soyo-chan messing around again," she said, desperately grasping for any excuse she could lay her hands on.  
"But, Kagura-chan," Hongou grinned, raising an eyebrow. "Soyo-san is _in_ quite a few of these photos as well, you know?"

Kagura blushed.  
"Well," she stuttered. "H-he's always hanging around, so sometimes it's hard to get a photo _without_ him in it, okay?"  
"Hm," Hongou murmured. "I guess, though I find it hard to imagine that Okita-san would always be around when he's a third-year and you both are first-years…"  
"T-then I guess he must be following us around, or something. That stalker." Hongou tilted his head at her response, his lips twitching upwards.  
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks," he stated. Kagura shut her mouth.

At Kagura's sudden silence, Hongou smiled and pat her on the back. _This is rather cute, the two of them._  
"Hey, Hisashi-kun."  
"Yes?"  
"My friend told me… when you like someone, you feel sick when you're with them," she mumbled, fiddling with her fingers. "But you feel sicker when you're away from them. Is this true?"  
"Hm, not for everyone," Hongou explained. "Some people have a better hold on their emotions. She isn't entirely wrong, though. Sometimes, you get nervous when you're close to someone you like. But then, you feel sad when you're far from them."

"If that's the case… tell me, Hisashi-kun," Kagura looked up from her clasped hands, her eyes glancing nervously at Hongou. "Why do I feel so sick when I see the sadist?"  
"Okita-san?" asked Hongou, to which Kagura nodded.  
"I thought that I hated him, that's why I felt so sick of his face. But, recently, I've been feeling weird chest pains whenever I see him. I've tried to avoid him, but it only makes whatever it is hurt more."

Hongou smiled.  
"Hey, Kagura-chan?" he said, rousing her attention. "Think carefully. Is it really hate?"  
"Well, yeah!" Kagura exclaimed. "He's Shinsengumi, after all, so-!"  
"No, I mean – do you hate Okita Sougo?"  
Kagura thought back to that day when he came with her to buy a gift for Hongou, when he cried next to her in front of his sister's grave, when he comforted her on that rainy night.  
"I… don't not hate him," she quietly mumbled. Hongou laughed.  
"The both of you have such roundabout ways of showing your feelings," he chuckled.  
"'The both of you'…?" Kagura repeated.

"Yes, you and-!" However, Hongou was stopped short by a coughing fit. He doubled over in pain, his thin body wracked with coughs that reverberated down to his toes. Kagura's eyes widened in horror. Quickly, she shouted for a nurse and slammed her hand on the emergency button. She was panicking and unsure of what to do as Hongou's painful episode continued. Eventually, two nurses came in and wheeled Hongou out of the room. As his bed moved, all of the photos that Hongou had laid out on his bedsheet flew to the ground alongside a familiar grey material. Kagura bent down to pick up the hoodie string and swallowed nervously.

It had unravelled entirely.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _I wonder… Will I kill off Hisashi-kun or not… Well, I don't need to wonder. Since I've already got it written down._

 _What do you guys think? Well, either way, it's already set out in stone. All that's left is to wait for the next chapter-! Ah, the suspense._

 _But, well, you can already guess – can't you?_


	17. Chapter 16

**Street War – Chapter 16**

Kagura was not sure how long she stayed in the emergency room waiting lobby. All she knew was that it had been a long time. She fidgeted with her phone, opening and closing the screen as she grew lost in her thoughts. Just moments before, she had texted Gintoki to let him know that she would be late coming home, if she came home at all. When she mentioned that she was at the hospital, Gintoki chose not to ask any more questions. He only sent her back a text asking her to notify him when she was done so that he could send Kamui to pick her up.

With that out of the way, Kagura waited. Beside her was Hongou's mother, who had cried upon arrival in the waiting lobby. Kagura had done the best she could to calm Hongou's mother down and, after a while, the older woman fell asleep. After that, Kagura could only stare at the doors of the ER, her hands trembling as they gripped onto the mess of thread that Hongou had held onto. But she was never one for waiting – she could barely sit still for classes, normally. Eventually, when it became unbearable to sit still any longer, she got out of her seat and walked to Hongou's room.

When she walked inside, her eyes were instantly drawn to all of the cranes that Hongou had made. Some were strewn up along the walls, others were placed on the windowsill, a couple had been left on the bedside table and Hongou had even hung some from the ceiling. A few were also scattered around the area where Hongou's bed once was, a little dusty from having been in contact with the ground. The cranes were small and neatly folded, though some were a little larger since Kagura had bought origami paper of varying sizes. The colour of the cranes brightened up the grey and white theme of the hospital room.

The rest of the origami paper was still in the bag on the ground next to Hongou's bedside table. Kagura stepped over to the bag and peered into it, noticing a larger, white piece of copier paper, upon which Hongou seemed to have been writing on. She took the piece of paper in hand and stared at the tally marks that had been drawn onto it. The strokes were clean against the pristine piece of paper and, every so often between the tally marks, Hongou had written a number and circled it. He appeared to have been counting in hundreds and had reached somewhere between eight-hundred and nine-hundred. _Ah, the thousand-cranes legend…_ Hongou had not yet finished it and, if tonight went badly, he might never finish it.

Tears began to form in the corners of Kagura's eye, but she blinked them away. Hongou had respected her as a strong fighter, and she would not show weakness now at a time when her friend was fighting for his life. _I'll fight with him, the only way I can._ Grabbing the bag and a pen from Hongou's bedside table, Kagura ran back to the ER waiting room and sat down. Her fingers grabbed a single sheet of paper and, after some mishap, she began to churn out one clumsily folded crane after another.

* * *

Kagura's disappearance from school did not go unnoticed. Soyo fretted about in her seat, worrying profusely about her best friend, until she received a text message from Kagura stating that Hongou was in critical condition and that she wanted to be there for him. Halting her fidgeting, Soyo clutched at her phone and stared hard at the letters on the screen. She was still worried about Kagura, but she was even more anxious about the fact that Hongou's condition was not looking too good. Soyo clasped her phone between her palms, silently praying that everything would be okay as the school bell went to signify the start of the next lesson.

However, it was not just Soyo who dearly missed her loud friend. The rest of the class also felt strangely quiet without Kagura's not-at-all-conspicuous stuffing of her face during lesson time. No-one said anything, but the Yorozuya girl had become something of a beloved class mascot (despite their initial fear of her) and her absence made everything feel a little dull. Even their homeroom teacher could feel the heaviness in the air. No-one would outright say that they missed the Yorozuya, but it was a very close feeling. Soyo could not help but notice the worried glances to the seat behind her and she smiled sadly.

* * *

As a third-year, Sougo never really knew whether or not Kagura was at school unless one of them wandered over to the other side of the school grounds. Usually, he would not care about whether or not she was around. However, with his new revelation last night, he could not help but want to see her stupid face again. Silently, he fretted over how he was going to go about bumping into her without it looking too suspicious when a teacher called out to Saitou, who was walking beside him.

"Saitou-kun, could you take these supplies over to the art room in the first-years' wing?" the bespectacled man asked. "I'd do it myself, but my back these days…"  
Without skipping a beat, Sougo turned towards the teacher and spoke up.  
"I can do it, sir."  
"Oh?" the man asked, surprised. "You, Okita-kun?"  
Sougo had never been known for his kind and helpful attitude. His sudden change of character was a surprise to the teacher, though Saitou could not help but smile behind his black mask at what his friend's intentions most definitely were.  
"Well, if you're sure. Here you go."  
"No problem."

Sougo took the box of art supplies from the elderly man and left Saitou to head over to the first-years' wing. Despite his calm demeanour, he was in turmoil on the inside and, as he was walking, he started to pick apart at his actions. _What am I, an idiot? What am I gonna do if I see her?_ He thought back to the last time he had tried to meet her in her classroom. Even though he had a legitimate reason at that time, she had still tried to run away from him. There was no telling how she would react this time.

Resigning himself to being forever hated by Kagura, Sougo sighed and continued his trek through the corridor of the first-years' building when he felt someone graze his shoulder.  
"Ah! I'm really sorry, Okita-senpai!" Soyo exclaimed, pivoting to bow at him apologetically.  
"Hm?" Sougo looked down. "Ah, China's friend."  
He sighed.  
"At least _one_ of you has the sense to show me some respect," he grumbled.  
"Oh, you're talking about how Kagura-chan refers to you by names like 'Sadist' and 'Shinsengumi rat' and 'Chihuahua'?"  
Sougo was silent, quietly scanning Soyo's face for any sign of malice. He found none.  
"Well, you also call her 'China' and things like that, so it's fair, right?" Soyo reasoned. The older boy sighed even louder this time.

"I suppose. Speaking of, though – where _is_ that China brat?"  
"Oh…" Soyo's chipper expression dimmed and she turned from her upperclassman. "Um, a friend of hers in the hospital became very sick all of a sudden. And so she's been there ever since last night."  
"Hongou?!" Sougo exclaimed, almost dropping the box of art supplies in the process.  
"Huh?" voiced Soyo, her hand moving subconsciously to her lips in surprise. "Oh, yes – Hisashi Hongou-san. I didn't realise you also knew him-"  
"Sorry, uh," Sougo interjected, handing off the box of supplies in his arms to a passing male student before he quickly left the first-years' building. "Gotta fly, take care of that."  
Soyo watched in confusion as Sougo ran away. She placed a palm to her cheek.  
"Sheesh, Kagura's got a hot senpai chasing her around as well as Hisashi-san. I don't believe for a second that she isn't interested in love."

"But, well… All jokes aside," Soyo spoke to no-one in particular, her eyebrows furrowed with anxiousness. "I hope everything goes well over at the hospital."

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _My friend lent me his uni login, so I've snuck into their library and I'm leeching off their Wi-Fi to upload this. Eheh. I'll try to get them all uploaded by then end of today, then. All the chapters 'til the end, even the epilogue!_

 _Well then, see you soon._


	18. Chapter 17

**Street War – Chapter 17**

Without too much explanation, Sougo quickly set off for Oedo Hospital. He rushed past Saitou, tapping him gently on the chest before announcing that he was ditching class for the rest of the day. With that, Sougo sped out of the third-years' wing and determinedly strode out of the school gates. He stopped for no-one, knowing that if he was caught by a teacher his escape plans would quickly be ruined.

As he ran, Sougo's mind spun with thoughts of the 'worst case scenario'. _I just lost sis'_ , he thought as his legs carried him in the direction of the hospital of their own free will. _Am I about to lose Hongou, too?_ The Sun was hot on Sougo's back, adding to his fatigue. In his dehydrated and frustrated state, it took everything in the young Shinsengumi member to not bulldoze through every red light that he came to. The stopped, red man that shone at him appeared to mock him.

Eventually, Sougo made his way to the hospital – receiving more than a few concerned looks on the way due to his laboured breathing and sweat-soaked school shirt. Walking up to the receptionist, he tried to maintain at least a little bit of demeanour and asked in as civil a manner as possible for Hongou's location. A little taken aback by the distressed young man in front of her, the receptionist took more than a couple of moments to locate Hongou's hospital ward. Sougo, further irritated by her lack of speed, watched and waited with an impatient foot tapping against the hospital floor.  
"He's been admitted to the ER. If you go to the ER waiting room-" And Sougo was off, needing no further information.

Upon arriving in the ER waiting room, Sougo's eyes glanced around quickly to locate a head of bright vermillion hair – a task that was not too difficult to accomplish, in all honesty. Upon finding Kagura hunched over, a colourful object in her hands and an older woman with a familiar face next to her, Sougo tried to calm down and jogged slowly over them. If his Yorozuya rival and the woman – who Sougo recognised as Hongou's mother – were not sobbing and in tears, that meant that the boy's status was not 'deceased'.

That thought, at least, put Sougo at a little bit of ease. However, his mind continued fluttering, overlapping his sister's image with that of Hongou's. His sister's pale, still figure in the hospital bed – her face covered by an oxygen mask and her wispy hair draping over her bony cheeks – reminded him too much of Hongou's own frail state. Silently, Sougo prayed to no god in particular for his friend to make it out of the situation okay.

When he finally reached Kagura, Sougo took notice of the pieces of papers in her hands. He just could not help himself.  
"God, China," he smirked, letting his voice carry over the five-metre distance between the two. "Can't you try at least a _little_ harder for Hongou? Those look awful."  
Kagura's head shot up, her hands part-way through reverse-folding the head of her newest crane.  
"Sadist!" she exclaimed a little too loudly for the hospital environment.

Sougo sighed, noting the turning of every head in the waiting room towards Kagura's direction. He gave them an apologetic look, silently mouthing "she's an ignoramus" at the other occupants of the waiting room before turning back to Kagura.  
"Keep it down, piggy," he ordered, crossing his arms against his chest. Kagura grumbled before turning back to her cranes.  
"How'd you know?" she murmured, lowering her volume. "About Hisashi-kun?"  
"Your little friend mentioned that you were here 'cause of Hongou," Sougo informed. "And I got worried about him, so I dashed over."  
"Oh? Is _that_ why your hair looks awful?"

Sougo wisely chose to ignore Kagura's remark.  
"What are you up to, huh?" he asked.  
"You get a wish if you make a thousand of these things, right?" Kagura said, lifting one of her cranes to Sougo's eye level. "I'm gonna wish for Hisashi-kun to get better."  
"I don't think _any_ god would grant your wish if your cranes look that ugly."  
Kagura glared at him. "I've only ever seen Hisashi-kun make these – I ain't ever done it myself."

As his eyes looked at Kagura's messily folded cranes, Sougo made a face.  
"That so?" he said. "Well, at the rate you're going Hongou'll pass of old age, forget about his sickness."  
Kagura stiffened before silently continuing her cranes, her hands moving a little faster than before, her cranes looking slightly worse than before. Sougo realised his mistake, looking away from her and down at the bag of origami paper at her feet. He reached down and picked up a few, then sat back into his chair.  
"How many left?" he asked while Kagura stared at him for a few moments.  
"This one is the nine-hundred and thirty-second," she murmured.  
"Sixty-eight more, huh? Bet 'ya I can make more than you." He smirked.  
"Huh?! You wanna go?"

Their commotion ended up waking Hongou's mother who had been sleeping at Kagura's side.  
"Oh?" she said, her eyes widening. "What's all this?"  
"Ah, good morning ma'am," Sougo stated as his head inclined in greeting.  
"Oh, Sougo-kun. Did you also come for Hongou? My – how my son is loved."  
Kagura smiled at Hongou's mother's comment.  
"Of course," she exclaimed as quietly as she could manage. "He's such a good guy after all! Unlike _someone_ else I know."  
Kagura directed her last comment to Sougo, who shot her back a glare.  
"Yeah, I can't believe such a good guy would hang out with a piggy like you," he leered.  
"What did you say?!"

Hongou's mother giggled and Kagura was glad that the crinkles on her face were no longer brought about by her tears.  
"I'm glad my son has such lively friends," she spoke, her tone light-hearted. "Are those for him?"  
She gestured towards the cranes and Kagura nodded.  
"Yeah, we're making a thousand of them for Hisashi-kun," Kagura enthusiastically announced. "Ah, well, to be honest Hisashi-kun already made 870 of them, but we figured we could finish them for him and wish for him to get better."  
"Well, aren't you thoughtful. Ah, but you've been here since last night – haven't you eaten anything? I'll go buy something for the two of you to eat. Sougo-kun knows my number, so please contact me if something happens."

Sougo looked over.  
"You can count on me, ma'am," he kindly stated, pointing a thumb in Kagura's direction. "I'm _much_ more responsible than Miss Piggy here."  
"Hey!" The two continued to bicker again and Hisashi's mother left them to continue, smiling to herself.

"Ah, the energy of youth."

* * *

Silently, the two continued their cranes – Kagura's crane-folding holding a little more fervour than Sougo's did, though her cranes ended up looking a little worse for wear. Sneaking a look at Sougo, she found him nonchalantly folding crane after crane, his creases perfect. Furrowing her brow, Kagura decided she would go for quantity over quality and sped up a little more than she already had.

Noticing her change in speed, Sougo smirked. _Well, they won't all be pretty but at least we'll finish these up a little faster._ Then, a thought hit him and his folds stopped momentarily as he blinked. _Hmm, Hongou was planning to make his own wish with these, wasn't he?_ He racked his brain to remember their conversation. _What was it? "I wanted to lose this weak personality of mine. I wanted to become a little more like Kagura-chan" was what he said, wasn't it?_

Next to him, Kagura was having similar thoughts. _Hisashi-kun… he said that he wanted to get better on his own._ She stared at the purple crane in her hands, it's wings a gradient of pink and lilac. _Would he want his wish used like this? He said he wanted to fight on his own, right?_ She shook her head. She wasn't one for thinking, anyways. Instead, she continued making cranes at the speed of light. _Act now, think later._

* * *

The two continued to fold their cranes. Hongou's mother had long since come back with convenience store bento boxes for both of them as well as some snacks to help satiate their hunger should it arise again. After she had given the two their food, she sat back and promptly fell asleep again. _The walk must've tired her out_ , Sougo thought as he nibbled on one of the onigiri in his bento box. He was not particularly hungry, but he wanted to show his appreciation for the food by at least eating some of it. Next to him, though, Kagura had already wolfed down her lunch in record time. Sougo was not even sure if she had chewed – it almost appeared as if she had inhaled everything.

"Hey, if you're not gonna eat that hand it here," Kagura growled, rice stuck on her cheek and upper lip as she held her hand out to Sougo. With a tentative glare in her direction, her rival picked up his bento box and slowly handed it to her. Without skipping a beat, Kagura snatched it from him and began to attack it – almost as if she were a voracious beast. He watched on in disgust as the food disappeared before his eyes. _Are there take-backs with crushes? Why on Earth do I like this girl?_

Sighing, Sougo looked down at all of the cranes they had made. Counting through his pile, he concluded that he had made a total of thirty. Then, he looked over at Kagura's cranes. After blinking a number of times at her pile, he made a face.  
"Oi, have you even been counting how many cranes you've been making?" he spoke up, halting Kagura's attack on his bento box. Kagura gave him a look, annoyed that he had interrupted her meal time.  
"No," she stubbornly announced, her voice muffled by the rice in her mouth. "I just need to make more than you, right?"  
"Yeah, well you've made more than me alright," Sougo muttered. "Like, a _hundred_ more? We have way more than a thousand, now."  
"Huh?" Kagura looked down.

Sure enough, there was a sea of coloured cranes at Kagura's feet, much more than they had needed. In her haste, she had dropped her cranes on the ground haphazardly, not really paying attention to how many had piled enough. She looked over at Sougo's pile of cranes – which he had placed much more delicately on the seat next to his – and noted how feeble it was in comparison to her army, smirking.  
"Whoo!" she yelled out, receiving an angry glare from some of the other occupants of the waiting room. "See that, Sadist? I win!"  
"Yeah, yeah, though we've gone over a thousand," Sougo furrowed his brows, rubbing his temple at her outburst. "Plus, your cranes look like shit."  
"Hmph, more cranes mean we get more wishes, right?"  
"I don't think that's how it works…"

However, they were interrupted by the doors of the ER opening, a doctor dressed in pristine white stepping out.  
"Is Hisashi Hongou's family here?" Sougo's ears perked.  
"Ah, that'd be us," he said, as Kagura slowly roused Hongou's mother from her sleep. The doctor stepped towards them and Kagura felt herself shrink a little bit. _Good news? Bad news? Which is it? Ah, I didn't even get to make a wish yet…_ Pulling off his surgeon's mask, the doctor gave the three a gentle smile.  
"Hisashi-kun is sleeping right now," he informed them. "He'll need to stay in the hospital for a few more weeks, but it appears that he's made it past the worst of it."

Kagura jumped up.  
"Then, he's okay?!" she squealed, a grin on her face, eyes wide. The doctor nodded.  
"Yes. Unfortunately, he won't be able to take visitors tonight but if you come back tomorrow he should be well enough to see you."  
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the doctor walked away with Hongou's mother to discuss a little further upon the medical procedure as well as any future interventions that would be required.

As he watched the two walk away, Sougo sat back down and gathered up his cranes, pouring them into the bag that was holding the origami papers.  
"Guess the kid was strong enough to get by without any of this, huh?" he grunted. Kagura nodded, mirroring Sougo's actions with her own cranes.  
"Hisashi-kun stayed strong," she said, the grin on her face widening. "Don't you worry, Sadist. When he gets all better, he's gonna join the Yorozuya and kick your ass."  
"Hah? Obviously he would join the Shinsengumi – he's been friends with me for way longer than you."  
"Doesn't matter – he obviously likes me more."

Sougo gave her a tired look.  
"Well, whatever," he sighed, standing up from his seat. "Let's just drop these off in Hongou's room and get going before the hospital kicks us out."  
"Huh? Why? Visiting hours aren't over yet," Kagura observed.  
"No, they aren't – you're just noisy." Kagura stuck her tongue out at him while her rival smirked at her childish gesture. Grabbing the bag, he started walking off to Hongou's room while Kagura followed suit.

As they were walking back to Hisashi's hospital room, though, Kagura suddenly remembered Gintoki's request for her to notify him when she would be coming home.  
"Hurry along, Sadist," she commanded, waving a hand dismissingly in his direction. "I have some business to take care of."  
Sougo turned back to look at her, then swivelled around towards the direction of Hongou's room.  
"Do what you want," he uttered before trodding off. Kagura stared at his back as he walked along, her fingers dialling out Gintoki's number. _What's eating him?_

Shaking her head, she waited for Gintoki to pick up the phone. Eventually, the dialling tone stopped.  
"The person you are calling is currently not available. Please leave a message-" Quickly, Kagura dropped the call with a sigh. That was unexpected – usually, if Gintoki was expecting a call from her, he would drop everything he was doing to receive her call. That was just the kind of worrywart he was, despite his laziness. That he would not pick up the phone when his daughter had not been home for a day was surprising. After a few more tries, Kagura decided to call her brother instead. The least she could do was to get her brother to take her home like Gintoki had wanted.

Kamui, at least, picked up the phone.  
"Hey there, lil' sis," he called out enthusiastically into his phone. "Whatcha need?"  
"Hey, Kamui," Kagura spoke with a much more lackadaisical tone. "Gin-chan told me to notify him when I'd be coming home so you could pick me up, but he isn't picking up his phone so I decided to call you instead. Reckon you could head over to the hospital?"  
"The one you've been frequenting lately? I'm actually real close, so I can pick you up in about two minutes."  
"Huh? What are you doing around here?"  
"Shinsuke had some work and I was helping him out."  
"Ah. Sure, then – I'll start heading out right now."  
"'Kay, then – I'll see 'ya in a bit, lil' sis!" he bid her farewell with a cutesy manner, prompting Kagura to immediately hang up her phone as she made a face at her screen.

 _He's just so disgusting, sometimes._ Kagura shut her eyes and furrowed her brows. _Scratch that. He's disgusting all the time._ She was about to make her way out of the hospital when her mind flickered back to Sougo. She stood still, debating whether or not she should say something to him before she left. It did not seem exactly right to leave without telling him. Deciding that she would leave after she insulted him a bit more, Kagura made her way to Hongou's room.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Of course I wouldn't kill off Hisashi-kun! The poor sweetie. Well, I didn't want to kill off Mitsuba either but I felt a bit less bad about doing that since, well… Well, you know. Episode 87 (crying)._

 _Sorry, are you guys angry at the lack of romance? But, well, I did already warn you that I'm not very good at writing romance, ahah. Please bear with it for a little longer – since I really wanted to let their relationship draw out for this long. But you guys can already tell, can't you? That it won't be much longer… Ufufufu. ^^_


	19. Chapter 18

**Street War – Chapter 18**

Sougo carefully placed the paper bag down on Hongou's bedside table, taking care not to crumple any of the cranes inside. He was about to leave when his phone vibrated. He groaned. _Is it Hijibaka? Ah, is he gonna yell at me for running out of school today?_ As he took his phone out of his pocket, he noted the time. _It's getting pretty late. The China girl should hurry up and get home before any weirdoes come out._ At the thought, he smirked a little. _Though I suppose I should be more worried about_ them _than her._

Hitting 'answer' on his phone, Sougo sat down on the chair beside where Hongou's bed once was to listen to Hijikata's lecturing. However, no lecturing did come. Sougo narrowed his eyes.  
"Oi, Hijikata-san?" he questioned into the microphone. He heard a low grumble from the other side of the line, but could not make out a word that was being said.  
"Hijikata-san?" he tried again. There was no answer, only some noise in the background. _Did he butt-dial me…?_ Before he had a chance to hang up, he finally heard something that sounded like a human speaking. A muffled human, but a human nonetheless.

"Hah? What're you sayin', brother? I ain't got no int'rest in none o' that." The voice sounded slurred and suspiciously similar to that of the Yorozuya boss. If it weren't for the fact that Sougo was listening into the conversation through a phone, he was sure that he could smell the alcohol in Gintoki's breath. _What's going on over there?  
_ "C'mon, now. Tensions've been buildin' up in the gangs. I reckon it's time to settle things, don't you?" Sougo noted that as Hijikata's voice, which only served to confuse him ever the more. _What're those two doing together?_

"Tensions in _your_ gang, maybe," Gintoki slurred, his tone accusatory. "None o' the guys in the Yorozuya are pitchin' fer a fight, y' hear? I git that the whole gang is stewin' o'er the passin' of that nice, older Okita, but dis ain't any o' _our_ problem, yeah?"  
Sougo flinched a little at the mention of his sister's name. It had been true that the Shinsengumi's morale hadn't been good lately – Mitsuba's death had taken a toll on everyone.  
"Yeah, yeah," Hijikata dismissed. "But listen, let's stake it this way. We have one big fight, the loser disbands. We beat you, everyone blows off their steam and it's all good. They need a good fight to get it out of their systems – the usual ones ain't gonna cut it. You beat us, you never hafta deal with us again."

While Hijikata was definitely more level-headed than Gintoki was, there was no question that he also had some alcohol in his system. Sougo could not believe his ears. _A big fight? With the loser disbanding? Hijibaka, are you out of your mind? C'mon, boss, you've gotta say no._ However, it seemed that the alcohol had far too great of an influence on Gintoki's brain for him to make a rational decision.  
"Sure, sure, whatever," he slowly managed to get the words off his tongue. "Tonight, then. Usual time 'n' place. Now leave me ta drink."  
"Don't get yerself too inebriated," Hijikata sneered. "We're gonna be dukin' it out, tonight."  
"Dun' need a brain to beat _you_ senseless."

Usually, Sougo would rejoice at any form of insult towards Hijikata. At the moment, however, he could only think about what had happened. _Did our idiot bosses just order an all-out war in their drunkenness? For fuck's sake._ He scratched his head in disbelief, turning his phone off. _This isn't how sis' would want things. What was that idiot thinking?_

In the midst of his quiet thinking, Sougo heard the door open. He shifted an eye to peer at the visitor, and his eyebrows raised slightly in surprise.  
"Oh?" he remarked. "I thought you had some business?"  
He turned towards Kagura as she approached him, her eyes focused on the paper bag that he had just set down on Hongou's bedside table.  
"Yeah, my brother's coming to pick me up," she replied, looking up at him. "Just wanted to make sure that you didn't throw my cranes away."  
"Hmph, I didn't. I _should've_ , though."  
"Is that so? Well, I'm outta here then. If Hisashi-kun doesn't get all of my cranes, though, you can bet that I'm gonna send you to the Moon at our next fight."

Sougo gulped, turning tensely away from her.  
"Uh, actually…" He paused. _I don't need to be telling this to the enemy._ His eyes looked back at Kagura. _Even if she is kinda cute. Oh, well, she'll find out eventually.  
_ "Nothing," Sougo finished.  
"Huh? What's up with you?" Kagura's tone was suspicious as she questioned him.  
"Nothing, hurry up and get going. I'm not looking forward to what that brother of yours will do to me if you don't get home on time."  
"Alright then…?" With a bit of hesitation, she turned and left, leaving Sougo to sort out his thoughts on his own.

When Kagura finally made her way outside, she found her brother waiting for her.  
"Alright, then," he cheerfully stated. "Let's get 'ya home."  
"Hmm, ah – Kamui?" Kagura spoke.  
"Yeah?"  
"Why do you think Gin-chan didn't pick up his phone when I called him?" she asked, placing her knuckles to her bottom lip in though.  
"What is this, a father-complex-?" Kamui barely got the word out before Kagura socked him one in the gut.  
"Gah…!" he groaned, shaking a little in pain. "It seems you take after me with strength, huh, lil' sis?"  
Kamui rubbed his abdomen before continuing.  
"Gintoki _did_ say that he was heading out for a couple o' drinks. Maybe he was too intoxicated to answer?"

Kagura made a face at her brother and groaned.  
"We _just_ cleaned the carpet," she complained, a whine at the back of her throat. "He'd better not throw up all over it."  
"Correction, dear sister," Kamui raised an index finger. " _I_ cleaned the carpet. You laid on the couch and read Jump."  
Deciding that she did not want to listen to her brother's rabble for any longer, Kagura promptly stalked off, leaving her brother to chuckle and follow along behind her.

* * *

 _Ten o'clock._ Gintoki groaned as he walked out of the bar, only half-sober. His footsteps were unsteady as he walked along the footpath and he found it difficult to avoid bumping into anyone who was walking in the opposite direction to him. He furrowed his eyebrows. The gang fight was due in two hours and he had not yet notified anyone, nor was he in any fighting condition. Hijikata had left the bar about an hour earlier, much less drunk than Gintoki was. As he continued along the footpath, heading home to his apartment, he groaned and took out his phone to send a group text to the Yorozuya. However, when the screen to his phone turned on, Gintoki's eyes narrowed at what he saw.

 _Five missed calls from Kagura and a message from Kamui? What could have happened?_ Countless 'worst case scenarios' flashed through his mind, further agitating his alcohol-induced headache. He quickly unlocked his phone and opened up Kamui's text, the throbbing in his head lessening as he read through it.  
 _"Your daughter is home right now, 'n' the hospital stuff went okay. Please don't throw up on the carpet."_ Gintoki sighed, relieved, then promptly moved to send a message to the Yorozuya members.

" _Meeting over at the usual hideout immediately. Drop everything, kinda urgent."_ Reading over his message a total of zero times to check if he had gotten all the details correct, Gintoki pressed send and, immediately, his thoughts were cut off by a ringing sound in his ears. He had thought that his headache could not get any worse, but it seemed that he had thought too soon. The whirling in his head stirred up his stomach and he gripped an arm against his abdomen.

Moving to the side of the footpath so as to get out of everyone's way, Gintoki grasped onto a streetlamp pole and hunched over. He could feel his stomach begin to lurch, and his awful headache did nothing to help him. It was pathetic of him to have gotten so drunk, but Hijikata had offered to pay for the night so he had not given much thought to hold himself back. _Big mistake. Plus, this ringing is awful – don't think I've ever gotten so drunk that my ears started ringing this bad. And is it just me? Or is the ringing getting even louder-?_

"Gintoki?" He looked up to find Tsukuyo standing a couple of steps away from him, her phone in hand ringing with the sound of the notification from his earlier message. _So I'm not going crazy_.  
"Ah, Tsukky?" he managed to slur out. Tsukuyo grimaced, opening her mouth to yell at him. However, she was cut off with the contortion of Gintoki's face.  
"I think I'm gonna-!" Though it was dark, the light from the streetlamp showed Tsukuyo enough of Gintoki's face for her to understand the implications behind his words.  
"Hold on!" She quickly dumped her groceries out of their plastic bag, holding it out for Gintoki. He gratefully grasped it, feeling the rush of alcohol, half-digested food and acid quickly ascend from his stomach.

Tsukuyo gently rubbed at Gintoki's back while using her free hand to fetch a water bottle from her groceries which were littering the ground. After he had finished heaving, Tsukuyo opened the bottle and lifted it to his lips. Gintoki welcomed the feeling of the fresh, cool water as it slid smoothly down his throat. Once he had finished drinking, Tsukuyo took off her cloak and used the remaining water to dampen it. She wiped carefully at Gintoki's face, cleaning off the spew that hadn't made it into the bag and had landed on Gintoki.

With a slight daze in his eyes, Gintoki blinked a couple of times at Tsukuyo's kind gesture.  
"Maybe I _should_ take Kagura's advice and make you her mother…" His words made Tsukuyo flinch, a blush creeping across her features as she furrowed her brow in embarrassment.  
"Don't say things like that when you're drunk, Gintoki," Tsukuyo snarled as she spoke, her words shaky with anger and mortification.  
"Maybe." Tsukuyo growled a little.

"Also, what exactly is _this_?" Tsukuyo questioned, lifting her phone towards his face, the light blinding him momentarily before he was able to read the message that he had sent only moments earlier.  
"Ah, yeah," he nervously responded. "I think maybe I've been played…"  
"Played?" Tsukuyo reiterated.  
"Mm. That mayo-freak called me out for a couple of drinks. Said something about wanting to thank me for accommodating Okita Mitsuba's health the past couple of years."  
"Okay…?"  
"Not quite sure what happened, but free booze is free booze, y' know?" Gintoki sighed. "Next thing I know the guy's calling an all-out gang war, and I'm sayin' "oh, sure, let's go"."  
"You did _not_."  
"I did too."

After a slight pause, Tsukuyo gulped down her fears and continued her line of questioning.  
"I'm afraid to ask, but… What are the stakes?" she slowly drew out. Gintoki hesitated for a few moments.  
"Disbandment," he eventually managed to utter.  
"Disbandment?!" Tsukuyo repeated, incredulous.  
"Well, we're gonna have to deal with it. We'll run over everything at the hideout, so we should hurry." As he began to walk away to find a bin for the plastic bag containing his regurgitation, Tsukuyo stepped toward him and smacked him on the back.

"You're such an idiot, Gintoki!" she yelled.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _Uh-oh, what's gonna happen eh? Also, sorry if you aren't a fan of GinTsu – but I kinda dig the ship so… Eheh, couldn't help myself._


	20. Chapter 19

**Street War – Chapter 19**

"Gin-chan, you idiot!" Kagura yelled, to the agreement of most of the rest of the Yorozuya members in the room. Their hideout was well-sized, having been repurposed out of an abandoned school building, and comfortably fit the entirety of the Yorozuya. It did not take much effort to round up all of the members – outside of the Yorozuya activities, no-one had much to do.  
"I cannot believe that you let yourself be played by that Shinsengumi dog!" she continued, her voice grating against Gintoki's ears. "And you call yourself our leader?!"  
Gintoki sighed.  
"Now, now – I'm drunk and I don't need my daughter adding to my headache," he declared, massaging his temples with his index and middle fingers. "What's done is done, and it's not like I can go back and undo it now. We're just gonna have to fight and deal with whatever consequences come out of it should we lose."

From her seated position by the window, Otae scoffed.  
"My, my," she haughtily breathed out, her arms crossed over her weapon of choice – a long wooden rod. "Kagura-chan's right. I cannot believe our leader has become such a weakling."  
"Huh?" came Gintoki's confused reply. Next to Otae, Shinpachi fixed the positioning of his glasses.  
""Deal with whatever consequences come out of it should we lose", you say?" the bespectacled boy reiterated. "You sound like you've lost your will to fight, already."  
There were murmurs amongst the Yorozuya. Gintoki's eyes narrowed.  
""Lost [my] will to fight"? I've got enough will for the lot of you!" he proclaimed, standing up to address the entirety of his gang.

The previously downcast mood of the room suddenly changed, doubtful murmuring switching to jubilant cheers. All of the members of the gang rose and either struck their weapons together or crossed fists in glee.  
"Don't worry, Gintoki! Even if you're an idiot, we'll still follow you to the ends of the Earth!" At Gintoki's side, Tsukuyo and Kamui smiled as they watched the members of the Yorozuya show their delight with violence and skinship. Both turned their gaze to the man who stood tall at the forefront of the Yorozuya. This was the man that they had chosen to follow – only the White Demon could tame this pack of ruffians with little more than a few words in their direction.  
"Those Shinsengumi dogs had better watch their tails, tonight. We'll paint Tokyo's streets with their defeat!" A chorus of cheers erupted as the members of the Yorozuya began splitting into their assigned combat groups in preparation for the fight.

Gintoki and Kamui began their walk amongst the groups, maintaining order throughout the chaos. Tsukuyo made to join them, when she noticed a momentary look of conflict flash across Kagura's face.  
"Kagura?" Tsukuyo asked, her eyes carrying with them a look of concern. "Is there something wrong?"  
Kagura looked up, her lips turning upwards in a grin.  
"Just planning ways to kill that Sadist," she answered.  
Tsukuyo nodded. "I see."  
Without wasting too much more time, Kagura bounded off towards Shinpachi and Otae, while Tsukuyo trained a worried glance in her direction. _Her eyes didn't smile at me like they usually do._

* * *

Sougo watched lazily as Hijikata addressed the other members of the Shinsengumi. He breathed out a deep sigh, tempted to pull his eye-mask down onto his face to take a quick nap. However, he knew that Hijikata would kill him if he even moved to do it, so he decided that he would be a good boy for once and just sit still. Sougo only vaguely listened to the words coming out of the older man's mouth and could somewhat gather that Hijikata's actions were fuelled by Mitsuba's death. _"We'll honour Mitsuba's wishes and end this fighting! As soon as the Yorozuya are out of the picture..." or something along those lines_ , Sougo thought to himself.

In Hijikata's eyes, Mitsuba's wish for the fighting between the two gangs to stop could be granted if one of the two gangs was chased off the streets for good. That was Hijikata's reason for calling such a high-stakes street war between the two gangs. _That idiot thinks that taking out the Yorozuya is the way to go, huh?_ Sougo sighed. He, at least, had enough sense in him to realise that what his sister wanted was not this. He thought back to the day when his sister met with Kagura and how she had expressed a hope that the two gangs would be able to get along. _There isn't much hope of that happening now, sis'._

Sougo's train of thought halted as his sister's words made their way into his mind.  
 _"Then, if you two get married, will the two groups end up merging together?"_ He blinked at the memory and quickly shook his head, startling Saitou as well as a small number of Shinsengumi members who were sitting beside him. Gently, he massaged the crease between his eyebrows and as he sighed in frustration at his own brain. _There isn't much hope of_ that _happening, either._

* * *

It was a couple of minutes after midnight when the Yorozuya members showed up in the back alleys of Tokyo to start their final street brawl against the Shinsengumi. When the ragtag gang eventually arrived, they found that the members of the Shinsengumi had already showed up long before to set-up shop on the fighting grounds. The men were spaced out behind garbage cans and parked motorcycles. Some crouched in groups out in the open while others lurked in the shadows of the alleyways, their dark outfits making it a little difficult to pick out the gang members from their surroundings.

Gintoki led his gang confidently into the middle of the group of Shinsengumi, his head conked to the side as he gazed lazily at Hijikata.  
"Even in the bitter end, you still don't show up on time?" Hijikata mocked, a smoke in hand.  
"Well," Gintoki drawled, a little upset that his headache had not quite subsided. "I _did_ say that it'd be at the 'same time, same place', and this is the same time I usually show up. Have you never heard of being fashionably late?"  
"Hmph, don't play smart with me." His hand clenched around the baseball bat that he was holding, prompting Gintoki to shift into fighting position with is iron pipe.

"Kondo-san's pulled some strings tonight with the cops," Hijikata continued. "I hate to ask him, but we can at least be assured that we won't be interrupted tonight."  
"Oh my," Gintoki exclaimed with mock disbelief. "The stiff Hijikata-san is playing dirty with the police? That _can't_ be good for your track record."  
"Well, it's fine to loosen up every so often," explained Hijikata, allowing his cigarette to drop to the ground. "Like right now!"

Without further warning, Hijikata leapt towards Gintoki with his baseball bat raised high in the air. At his movement, both gangs sped into action. There was very little confusion as the members of each respective gang quickly met in combat with a member of the opposing gang. As the clash of weapons and fists echoed throughout the moonlit streets, Gintoki pushed back against his foe. With practised grace, both the 'Kings of Tokyo' leapt over their fallen comrades as they engaged in close-combat, aware that the initial casualties would be high due to the large number of the weaker members of each gang being weeded out.

A couple of metres away from the brawl between Gintoki and Hijikata, Kagura's attention was focused on the 'mob' members of the Shinsengumi. As she obliterated them without a second thought, a chill ran up her spine and she quickly stabbed behind her with her reinforced umbrella. Sougo moved quickly to dodge, using one of his fallen gang members as a spring board.  
"Christ, China," he called out with a weary façade. "Slow down, would you? We only have so many members for you to beat down."  
"Hmph, are all you Shinsengumi weaklings?" she huffed, glaring at her rival. "I've hardly broken a sweat."  
Sougo smirked.  
"Why don't we change that, then?" Kagura blinked as Sougo rushed in.

While she would have, once, been able to fend off such an upfront attack, Kagura's whirling emotions dulled her fighting prowess. The closer Sougo's face got to hers, the less Kagura was able to think rationally. She recoiled as she took more and more hits from her rival, unable to fight back against the young Shinsengumi's unrelenting attacks. Sougo, on the other hand, was thoroughly confused by the way their fight was progressing. _Eight, nine, ten. Ten hits? And she's hit me – what – once?_ Usually, their fights were more balanced than this. Feeling a little frustrated, he landed a solid kick to Kagura's abdomen which knocked her a couple of metres away.  
"Oi, I hardly think that today is the day to be going soft on me," he advised, approaching her as he twirled his iron pipe.

Groaning, Kagura slowly stood up. She was definitely a wreck, much more so than Sougo who barely had a speck of dust on his jacket.  
"Who said I'm going soft?!" she yelled, rolling up her sleeves. Sougo scoffed.  
"No-one needs to say anything. You're a loser, sure, but you don't usually lose this badly."  
Kagura dropped her head at his words, her eyebrows knitting together in frustration. In a moment of carelessness, a member of the Shinsengumi gang silently crept up behind her and rounded on Kagura with their wooden board. Sougo's eyes widened.  
"Oi-!" However, before his call could make its way to Kagura's ears, she caught a good hold on the assailant's weapon and lifted her head toward her rival. A strange look of determination crossed her previously downcast eyes. With as much strength as she could muster, Kagura hurled the Shinsengumi member that had attacked her over her shoulder in Sougo's direction.

Flinching at the unexpected attack, Sougo was driven back by the force of Kagura's throw and the weight of the man that had just been thrown at him. In the time that it took him to stand up and push the man's weight off, Kagura had crossed the few metres separating them and hurled a straight punch into his abdomen. Having been winded by his impact with the ground, Sougo left plenty of openings for the refuelled Kagura, who had abandoned her umbrella in favour of a close-quarters brawl instead. She alternated her punches with kicks, the majority – of which – hit straight on their mark.

However, in the midst of her barrage of attacks, Kagura missed the look of ecstatic glee that flickered on Sougo's face.

Eventually, the tussle took to the ground as both parties tried to get the upper hand on the other. It was when they had tumbled into an empty alleyway that Sougo was able to pin Kagura's limbs beneath him. However, in doing so, his own appendages were locked in place. A little unsure as to how to proceed, Sougo could only take the time to catch his breath. _If I let go to try to knock her out, I leave her with a free arm. Then, the question is who is faster-?_

"Oi, Sadist." Sougo looked down, startled by the suddenness of Kagura's words. Slowly, he felt the tension in Kagura's arms dissipate as she allowed her muscles to relax, her eyes staring straight up at Sougo's face.  
"When this fight ends, regardless of who wins or loses, what happens?" she questioned, her voice strangely quiet. He blinked. It was too dark in the alleyway to see Kagura's expression, so he had no idea of what she was thinking. His mind raced for an answer as a bead of sweat began to trickle down his forehead. _What is she trying to say…?_  
"Hey," Kagura called out once more, her voice bouncing off the enclosed walls of the alley way.  
"What?" responded Sougo, his voice coming out a little harsher than he had intended.

"Without whatever the hell _this_ is, what exactly am I to you?"

Sougo blinked. Seeing no need to maintain their current position as Kagura had already stopped struggling, he released her and sat back slowly onto his heels. In a crouched position, he rested on the balls of his feet as he watched Kagura sit up slowly.  
"The only reason we even look at each other is 'coz of these squabbles," she mumbled. "We aren't friends, or anything gross like that. When all this ends, there's nothing left between us, y'know?"  
""Nothing left"…?" he repeated quietly. Kagura looked up at him.  
"So, what am I to you?"

Without moving too much, Sougo glanced off to the side and asked as appropriate a question as he could think of.  
"Why do you want to know?" he murmured, partly at her and partly for his own sake. Kagura remained silent, the back of her neck sweating as she chose her next words.  
"Because I want to crush you?" she managed to squeak. Sougo raised an unconvinced eyebrow.  
"Do you mean you have a crush on me?" he spoke slowly, leaning in close. Kagura blushed. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he could clearly see the red sheen darken Kagura's cheeks. There was no question about it. He smirked and sorely hoped that she would not notice the heat on his cheeks, either.

"Well, if you _must_ know…" Sougo said through his sly smile. He aimed a kick at her side, which was neatly dodged by Kagura who pushed off the ground into a somersault.  
"For a piggy, I think you're pretty cute."  
Sougo was not sure of whether or not Kagura had completely registered his words when she aimed a fly kick at his shoulder, knocking him out of the alleyway. The angered and embarrassed look on her face, however, told him that she had at least heard the 'piggy' part.

Grabbing her umbrella as she ran out of the alleyway, Kagura made to strike down upon her 'hated' rival with her favourite weapon. Sougo jumped up to dodge the incoming umbrella, which he was sure weighed more than a couple of kilograms. He landed in front of Kagura and aimed a punch at her face. Taken by surprise, Kagura did not have the time to dodge and only managed to block his incoming attack with her arm. The crack that she heard echoed loudly and she quickly roundhouse kicked him in the shin in vengeance. The resounding crack from his leg satisfied her as she leapt backwards in a wary fashion.  
"Both you damn siblings…!" he swore as he lowered his stance to place some stress off his leg. "My stupid broken arm just healed, China!"

From the way that he was favouring his right leg, Kagura could tell that Sougo would not be getting much use out of it for the rest of the night. She tested her left arm and found its movement stiff. _Same could be said for me_. From the corner of his eye, Sougo noticed her dilemma.  
"Don't tell me we're both out of commission for tonight," he hissed, placing his arms up in a guarded postion. She turned angrily to point at him with her umbrella using her good arm.  
"Well, it certainly is not my fault!" she yelled. "You broke my arm first – you got what you deserved!"  
She lowered herself into a fighting stance, twirling her umbrella threateningly.  
"And I only need one arm to beat the stuffing out of you, anyway."  
He scoffed. "Hardly."

Quickly, Sougo scanned the streets. While the Shinsengumi far outnumbered the Yorozuya, Gintoki's gang members were all well-seasoned fighters. Even with lower fewer members, they had managed to dwindle the numbers of the Shinsengumi. After a half an hour into the fight, it seemed that the majority of each gang had been taken out. On the Shinsengumi's side, only Kondo, Sougo and Hijikata remained standing. The Yorozuya only had three members remaining, as well – they were Gintoki and his two children. As far as Sougo was concerned, the match between himself and Kagura could only end in a tie. That meant that whether or not the Shinsengumi would win would be decided by whether or not Kondo and Hijikata could push Kamui and Gintoki to the ground.

Having been ganged up on by a large number of the Shinsengumi beforehand, Kamui had been tired out and was having a bit of trouble fighting back against Kondo. His fists did not carry the same impact that they once had and the older Shinsengumi member was quite well-equipped to fend off Kamui's offences. Kagura, having noticed this fact, eyed Sougo warily before sprinting towards her brother. Sougo's eyes widened with the startling realisation that Kagura had disappeared and, with his limp, he was unable to catch up to her as she flew over to Kamui's aid. Moving swiftly, Kagura made use of her athleticism and used her good arm as a brace on the ground to support her weight. She lifted her legs and made quick work of kicking away Kondo's fire-extinguisher. Kondo's surprise allowed ample time for Kamui to knock the larger man out with a swift, hard kick to the temple.

"Kondo-san!" called out Hijikata as his friend went down. With Hijikata's loss of attention, Gintoki took the opportunity to wrestle the Shinsengumi leader's baseball bat from his hands, tossing it to Kamui. After he had successfully removed Hijikata's weapon, Gintoki struggled against his rival in close combat, eventually managing to lock Hjikata's arms behind his back.  
"Two against three," Gintoki announced, glancing at Sougo as his two children ran to his side. "You're weapon-less and the boy over there isn't faring too well, either. There's no need to continue on with the pointless fighting."

Sougo silently agreed with Gintoki. He glanced over at Kagura to check on her condition, only to find her giving him a nervous stare. When his eyes met with hers, she quickly ducked behind her brother. He raised an eyebrow as she furiously turned her head away from him. _Feeling embarrassed already are we, China?_ However, he was brought out of his musings by Hijikata's voice.  
"Hmph, I'd rather go down fighting," the man declared as he began to struggle once more at Gintoki's grip. However, the Yorozuya leader would not relinquish his hold. He used his leg to slide under Hijikata's feet and pushed him to the ground, laying his foot carefully on the fallen man's back.

After ensuring that he had locked Hijikata in place, Gintoki wrapped his arms around Kagura and Kamui, pulling them so that they both stood at his sides.  
"Listen, I don't mind fighting. Trust me. However," he gently pat Kagura's cheek, which had begun to bruise. "Big, gigantic fights like this with actual stakes? No fun."  
Hijikata stiffened.  
"The stakes were in place to get one of us off the streets, to stop this fighting in a satisfactory manner," he rationalised. "Like Mitsuba would've wanted."  
Sougo turned his head.  
"My sister wanted the fighting to _stop_ , Hijibaka," he deadpanned. "Trying to stop the fighting by using more fighting isn't exactly gonna work."  
Hijikata looked lost.  
"But… Fighting is the only thing that guys like us have ever known. How exactly are we meant to settle things without duking it out?"

Sougo thought back once more to his sister's words.  
"Well, I suppose I could always marry China and merge our gangs that way-"  
In half a second, Sougo was cut off by an iron pipe flying at his face. He narrowly managed to dodge it, his hands risen in surrender.  
"What. Did. You. _Say_?" Gintoki growled, clutching the very red Kagura to his chest. "I don't think I quite caught that."  
In response, Sougo acted out his best impression of a pure, innocent child while Kamui watched in amusement.  
"I wonder how monstrously strong your babies will be!" pondered the older Sakata sibling.  
"Oi."  
"Yes, dad?" Kamui answered amiably.  
"Your sister isn't marrying anyone until she's _thirty_ and _especially not that Sadist King_ , okay?"

Hijikata glanced at the four, a little taken aback at how easily they managed to banter with one another. He looked at his shoes.  
"Merging, huh?" he murmured. Sougo looked back at Hijikata.  
"Well, both of our groups are pretty much doing the exact same type of thing, anyways," he stated. "Merging wouldn't be too hard. In the first place, I don't think the Yorozuya boss' group are as blood thirsty as the guys in our group, so we can expect very little protest on their end."  
As he continued, Sougo's eyes began to soften. "And, well, if they hear that it's what sis' would have wanted, I'm sure that our guys will be up for it, too."

As Gintoki released Kagura, she turned in her father's arms to face Hijikata.  
" _Our_ boss is usually the stupid one, so I was surprised to find out that this whole 'final gang fight' was your idea," she bluntly announced. At her words, Hijikata furrowed his brow and looked at the younger girl.  
"I only had to meet her once to recognise that she was as good a person as they come," she continued, turning her head upwards towards the moon. "Even if she hated fighting, she understood that there was very little malice behind our usual gang rough ups."  
She paused to look back at Hijikata who had turned back down to look at the ground.  
"I'm sure that, if she had to choose between our usual tussles and what happened tonight," Kagura gestured to the bruised bodies lying unconscious across the street, "she would much rather our usual fights."

Sougo whistled.  
"I guess even the idiot China can be smart sometimes." Kagura glared at him.  
"Why couldn't he have inherited some of his sister's gentle and kind personality…?" she wondered aloud, bringing a hand up to massage between her eyebrows. Hijikata chuckled, tousling Sougo's hair in the process.  
"Sometimes I wonder that, too," Hijikata agreed. His young ward made a face that was not befitting of an eighteen-year-old and shook Hijikata's hand away. Gintoki smiled at the scene.  
"Well, that's it for tonight," he declared. "Gather up the bodies and bandage them up. When you're ready, contact me and we can talk about that gang merge. Which would you prefer – the 'Yorogumi' or the 'Shinsenzuya'?"

Hijikata cocked his head and gave a defeated sigh.  
"Guess there's no choice, huh?" he muttered. Gintoki turned, his kids having already run off to help the injured. Sougo stalked off to do the same for the Shinsengumi, shaking Saitou awake to give him a hand. However, before Hijikata could walk away, Gintoki spoke once more.  
"Oh, one thing."  
"Hm?"  
"Can you, like, call or _text_ me like a normal person? Letters are _so_ twentieth century."

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _And-! That's the end._

 _I'm just joking – goodness no! I've still got an epilogue coming after this one. So, if you're not yet satisfied, please hold on!_


	21. Epilogue

**Street War – Epilogue**

Sougo watched in annoyance, his eyes trained on the girl in front of him. _Though I can hardly call her a 'girl', anymore_.

It had been two years since the truce between the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi. He had long since graduated from high school and was now in his second year at university. Kagura, on the other hand, was studying for her entrance exams. Surprisingly, she had matured a lot in the past two years. She had let her hair grow out, and carried herself with an air of grace that he never knew she could have. She even _studied_ , now, which was the most surprising part of all. Supposedly, according to what he had heard along the grapevine, she wanted to be able to get a proper job to give back to Gintoki for having taken care of her for all these years.

However, though Kagura may have matured in the past two years, nothing had matured in terms of their relationship with one another. If anything, there had been _regress_. After the big fight between the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi, both Sougo and Kagura were too stubborn to speak any further about their feelings to one another. Their conversations grew shorter and their time together lessened as Sougo became busy with university life and Kagura became engrossed in her studies. In addition, both Hongou and Soyo had gone abroad – Hongou's case being that he needed to be admitted to a larger hospital while Soyo's family was expanding their influence internationally. While they still kept in contact, the absence of these two pillars of the 'Okita Sougo and Sakata Kagura Should Date Committee' meant that two years flew past without anything starting between the young rivals.

It was by complete chance that he had happened upon Kagura in the large metropolitan library. Sougo had needed a reference book for an assignment, and was leafing through a bookshelf when he saw her bright, vermillion hair on the other side of the room. He had sauntered slowly over to where she was sitting, her back hunched over a textbook as she wrote notes in the exercise book beside it. She had placed a set of headphones over her ears and likely hadn't heard him over her music. Picking a relevant reference book off the bookshelf, he moved to sit opposite her. The library tables were rather wide, so he was quite sure that he would be able to sit without being in her field of vision. He opened his reference book and made an attempt to read it before his eyes drifted back to Kagura.

" _Hey, China, I know it's been two years and we've barely spoken to each other but I still like you". Oh, yeah. That'll go down well._ Sougo sighed and shifted his gaze back down to his reference book. His eyes flitted across the letters aimlessly, his pride and stubbornness preventing him from doing anything that might make a fool out of him. He vaguely wondered if she might still like him, or if some guy from school had already caught her eye. Another sigh left his mouth as he rested his cheek against his palm, his eyes slowly closing. _I wish we could go back to beating the crap out of each other. At least she would_ look _at me, back then._

* * *

When Kagura's eye caught the light streaming in from the window shift from a glowing yellow to a warm sunset-orange, her hands automatically began moving to gather her study materials. After having packed all her books and stationery into her bag, she removed her headphones and was met by the sound of someone's light snores. Looking up, she was surprised to find Okita Sougo taking a nap in front of her, his head rested upon his crossed arms and his shoulder-length hair slightly disentangled from his short ponytail. _How long has he been here?_ Taking a few moments to calm herself, Kagura snidely noted that he was much more tolerable when he was asleep compared to when he was awake.

However, it was nearing the library's closing time and Kagura did not feel like dealing with Sougo's whining if she never woke him up and he got in trouble. He had obviously seen her, after all. Whether or not he had meant for her to see him was another matter.  
"Oi, Okita," she quietly called out. There was no response.  
"Okita?" Kagura walked over to his side of the table and gently removed the reference book that he had been using as a pillow from beneath him. As she placed it back on the shelf, she called out to him again.  
"Okita, wake up. The library is closing." This time, he grumbled something inaudible. Feeling a little impatient, Kagura pulled his chair from under him. Falling on his butt resulted in the desired effect of waking him up and, satisfied, Kagura slid the chair back underneath the table.  
"Come on, Okita – library's closing," she announced, draping her bag across her shoulder and turning in the direction of the door. "Time to go."

When she did not feel movement from the older boy, Kagura halted her walk and sent a tired glance back over her shoulder.  
"You coming or not?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at his stupefied expression. Without much other choice, Sougo dusted himself off and followed her lead. As they left the building, he turned to down at Kagura.  
"Since when did you start calling me 'Okita'?" he asked, fixing his hair back into its ponytail. "That's kind of gross, don't you think?"  
Kagura chose to not turn towards him.  
"Well, it's about time that I grow out of my childish habits." Sougo walked alongside her in silence. _Is that all you've grown out of, China?_

Deciding to pick a different topic, Sougo turned his head back towards the direction they were walking.  
"So, what's with the books?" he began. "Last I remembered, you were at the bottom of your class."  
"Yeah, well, things change," Kagura answered, flicking her long hair over her shoulder. While her curt responses and despondent attitude may have been deemed as a nice 'challenge' for some, Sougo was not feeling it. He had overcome all the 'challenges' two years ago, he reasoned. _Isn't it supposed to be smooth sailing from here on?_

As they walked, Sougo noticed an empty park to their right. And, because he was in absolute control of his emotions, he promptly tripped Kagura and watched her break her fall by somersaulting onto the grass. _I guess she hasn't let all of her skills dull.  
_ "Oi, what's the big idea, Okita?" she shouted, glaring up at the older boy through her bangs.  
"C'mon," he taunted, removing his bag and grabbing her dropped one, placing both on the park bench. "For old times-ing!"  
"Hah?!"  
With that, Sougo quickly jumped and launched a barrage of light attacks against Kagura. _If she won't look at me, I'll make it so she can't look away_.

As she dodged his hits, Kagura felt an energy build up within her that she had not felt for a very long time. _Straight right, round-house to the shin, jump, uppercut._ The more hits Sougo sent her way, the more Kagura began to lose herself to the heat of the battle. After a few minutes, she stopped her defensive strategy and dropped to the grass. In half a second, Kagura had managed to roll and send a round-house kick to the back of Sougo's knees. Surprised at Kagura's sudden movement, the older boy tripped and fell in a heap to the ground as his opponent leapt backwards off the grass in order to gain a bit of distance. With a swift motion, Kagura pulled her hair-tie off her wrist and quickly pulled her long hair into a bun.  
"If you're asking to get pummelled, Sadist, that can be arranged!" she shouted.

* * *

Hours passed as the two sparred against one another. It was well into the night when the two finally ended up sprawled on the grass, completely out of breath. Sougo looked over at the bench where he had left their belongings to find both of their phones lit up, blinking with numerous notifications. _Probably all asking where the hell we are_. Deciding that he should probably get Kagura home before her father sent out a search party and hired an assassin for her kidnapper, Sougo stood up and slowly walked over to where Kagura was lying on the grass. Offering her a hand, he called out to her.

"C'mon, we'd better get home," Sougo said, shaking his hand in Kagura's direction. "It's pretty late."  
She looked up at him, her bun mostly unravelled due to the intensity of their sparring session. Slowly, she reached up for his hand and, without any warning, pulled him down onto the ground with her. He grunted as his back hit the grass and he brought his hand up to rub against the back of his head. Turning his head slightly, he glared at the girl by his side.  
"China?" he grumbled.  
"Shut up for a minute, Sadist," she spoke calmly. "The night is actually kind of nice if you quit your yipping for a bit."  
He gave her a look before closing his eyes. _She's right_. It was a cool, summer night and the breeze was a welcome feeling against his skin after his brawl with Kagura.

"So, what happened to growing out of your childish habits and not calling me 'Sadist', anymore?" Sougo teased, resting his head against his arm as he watched Kagura narrow her eyes at him.  
"Ah, and here I thought you might just shut up for the rest of the night." Sighing, she sat up and moved towards the park bench to grab her belongings. Sougo slowly sat up and followed moments afterward. When a few more minutes of silence had passed, Kagura spoke up again.  
"I have my own reasons for doing what I do."

Sougo swung his bag over his shoulder, searching his brain for a light-hearted response to Kagura's statement.  
"Hm?" he hummed. "What, you trying to nab a guy or something?"  
Kagura smirked.  
"I guess you aren't as dumb as you look." _Shit._  
"Y-Yeah? Bet'cha he isn't as good looking as I am, though." Kagura turned and gave him an amused look.  
"Nah," she chuckled. "I'd say he is."  
 _What?_ Sougo breathed in deeply. _Regroup, regroup. She thinks I'm good looking? Fuck, get yourself together.  
_ "I heard you were doing this for the Yorozuya boss, though," Sougo added, hoping to save himself. "I must say, he's decent, but he isn't as good looking as I am."  
"Hm," Kagura murmured. "Well, you're not wrong about this being partly related to Gin-chan. He's not the guy I'm referring to, though."

Dreading her next answer, Sougo gulped down his nervousness and persisted.  
"T-then," he cursed at himself for stuttering. "Who is it?"  
Kagura stopped, causing Sougo to crash into her back. When she turned back to face him, her cheeks were slightly pink and she narrowed her eyes at him. His body relaxed at the familiarity with which her expression brought.  
"Look in a goddamn mirror." With that, she stalked off and left Sougo a little dazed. However, after registering her words in his brain, he recovered quickly and raced to catch up to her.

Once he had gotten within a metre of Kagura's back, he pounced and enveloped her with his large frame. In no time, he was effectively weighing the girl down by draping himself onto her back.  
"Could it be that you were studying this hard to try to get into my uni?" he exclaimed, not the least bit concerned with whether or not Kagura would be able to support his weight. _I'd be surprised if she_ weren't _able to carry me._ A grunt was the only reply he got from the girl beneath him as she dragged his weight – in addition to her books – home.  
"Wait," he suddenly shouted out, practically strangling Kagura with his grip. "So you still like me?"  
Another grunt.  
"I like you, too, oi! Does this mean we can beat the crap out of each other again?"

This time, her grunt was accompanied by something that sounded like "wasn't this guy meant to be a sadist?"  
"My offer to marry you still stands, you know?" Sougo continued.  
"Make me food and we've got a deal."  
"Eh – come on, Mrs Piggy! You'll get fat if you eat too much, you know?" Kagura's eye twitched at his response.  
"Can we break up _now_ , please?" she half-begged, half-demanded.  
"It's been two minutes." Kagura stopped walking.  
"Could you also, you know, get off my back?" Sougo's grip tightened.  
"Nope."

When Kagura – eventually – made her way home, she was met at the front door by a very worried Gintoki.  
"Young lady, do you have any idea what time it is-?!" Then, he noticed the very familiar face draped on his daughter's back.  
"What are you-?" he began to ask.  
"Uh, good evening, dad?" Sougo interjected.

Kagura's palm met her face. Gintoki's foot made similar contact to Sougo's face. Only the impact was harder. Much harder.

* * *

 _Author's Note_

 _And that, my friends, is really the end! Thank you so much for your support all the way through._

 _I don't know when I'll next write a story, nor do I know if the story will be an OkiKagu, but we'll see when the time comes eh? (Though, to be honest, I'm so in love with the OkiKagu pairing my next fic probably will be an OkiKagu. And since Gintama isn't the kind of manga that I expect romance from, well I can only have my imagination. Eheh.)_

 _Fun bit of trivia: I was inspired to write this story after reading Erin Morgenstern's_ The Night Circus _. It goes absolutely nothing the same, but I really liked the whole idea of the Romeo and Juliet romance and how the lovers are on opposing teams. I just decided to give it more of a Gintama twist, and… Well, I wasn't gonna kill off our adorable main characters like Shakespeare did, so here we are!_ The Night Circus _was also a bit of a fun read, so give it a go if you ever get the chance._

 _Well then, guys – until next time!_


End file.
